States from New York to Florida have attempted to take action against insurance companies found to be engaging in the practices.
The federal government needs to step up and take action against insurance companies that – while technically barred from dropping people with preexisting conditions – are nevertheless discriminating against them to achieve the same ends.
Doctors could come into conflict with their liability in civil law if they do not take evidence-based action, and insurance companies find it much harder to justify themselves if they wish to not fund evidence-based procedures.
The banks faces class-action lawsuits and legal actions by insurance companies and investors disputing insurance on mortgage loans.
But recent actions by insurance companies make access to mammography more difficult by limiting their insured to using only specific sites.
Action on unemployment insurance still is possible, however, before Congress adjourns for the holidays.
Allow time for students to respond, then explain that you will read an article about a recent Senate action providing health insurance coverage for birth control.
New Yorkers should hail Gov. George E. Pataki's action in providing insurance for the working poor and also the recent ruling by the State Court of Appeals declaring that the state's denial of Medicaid coverage to qualified immigrants is unconstitutional.
In the decision yesterday, Justice Souter wrote that by trying to force action by the insurance companies, "California seeks to use an iron fist, where the president has consistently chosen kid gloves".
But his remarks were notably more cautious than a speech Wednesday night by the Fed's vice chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, who said the Fed might be justified in taking new action simply as insurance against the looming risks from Europe and elsewhere.
As the historian Dominic Sandbrook has written, the report "called for federal assistance and public works in areas suffering from chronic unemployment, national standards of unemployment insurance, action to fight racial and other discrimination, a youth conservation corps, expanded vocational training and federal funding for retraining the jobless".
