UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. plan toretain some benefits created by the U.S. health-care overhaul evenif the Supreme Court strikes down the law. The exception: Thoseinvolving people with pre-existing illness.

Customers of UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health insurer, cankeep children on plans until age 26, get free preventive care andwon't face lifetime benefit limits, the Minnetonka, Minnesota-basedcompany said yesterday in a statement. The insurer also won'trescind policies except for cases of fraud and will retain asimplified appeals process for denials.

Aetna, the third-largest health insurer by market value, saidtoday it would cover preventive services, let young adults stay ontheir parents' plans and continue outside reviews of coveragedenial appeals. Industrywide implementation of those and otherprovisions of the 2010 health care law has been in doubt as theSupreme Court prepares to rule this month on whether a key measureof the overhaul is constitutional.

“A number of provisions in the health-reform law have been woveninto the fabric of our health-care system, bring value to customersand consumers, and should be maintained,” Hartford,Connecticut-based Aetna said in an e-mail.

Humana said today it would maintain various coverage provisions,all of which match UnitedHealth's pledge.

“Humana believes its health plan members should have the peaceof mind of knowing the company embraces and will maintain thesecommon-sense provisions that add stability and security tohealth-care coverage,” the Louisville, Kentucky-based company saidin a statement.

UnitedHealth said it can't cover children with pre-existingillnesses unless other insurers also agree to cover them, and thatit would work with “all other participants in the health-caresystem” on the issue. None of the companies addressed the issue ofcovering adults with pre-existing conditions. Other insurers willprobably follow UnitedHealth's lead, said Les Funtleyder, aportfolio manager with Miller Tabak in New York, before Aetna'sstatement.

“As United goes, so goes the world,” said Funtleyder, whoseHealthcare Transformation Fund owns UnitedHealth shares. “Thereason insurance companies didn't do it in the first place — theycan price for all of these things — is because they were afraid ofcompetition.”

The Supreme Court is weighing whether the law's mandate thatmost Americans be insured is constitutional and, if not, whether tostrike down the entire law or just that part of it. The law,supported by President Barack Obama, was passed without RepublicanParty support.

'Couple of Dollars'

Nick Papas, a White House spokesman, declined to comment on theinsurers' actions.

The benefits and protections UnitedHealth would preserveprobably don't cost much or add more than “a couple of dollars” topremiums, Funtleyder said in a telephone interview. UnitedHealthhad about 25.9 million people in its commercial plans in 2011,according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company said it won't change its 2012 earnings forecastbecause of the announcement. The cost of single benefits such asfree preventive care can't be easily isolated from the variablesthat determine premiums, Matt Stearns, a UnitedHealth spokesman,said by telephone.

The requirement that insurers let families keep children intheir plans until age 26 expanded insurance coverage to about 2.5million people in 2011 while increasing premiums less than 1percent, the government estimates.

The provision is among the most popular parts of the law, pollsshow, and the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund in New York estimatedlast week that about 6.6 million young adults are on their parents'plans because of it.

The government has estimated that prohibiting lifetime limits onbenefits also adds less than 1 percent to premiums.

“The protections we are voluntarily extending are good forpeople's health, promote broader access to quality care andcontribute to helping control rising health care costs,”UnitedHealth Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Hemsley said in thestatement.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a consumeradvocacy group in Washington that backs the health-care law, calledUnitedHealth's statement a “very positive development.”

“This in no way changes the importance of making sure theAffordable Care Act is fully implemented,” Pollack said in atelephone interview. He said he hopes other insurers don't“undermine” UnitedHealth's position by offering plans with lowerpremiums that don't guarantee the same protections.

Aetna said it also planned to continue collaborations withhospitals and doctors through so-called accountable careorganizations, in which health providers closely monitor andcoordinate care for patients in an attempt to lower healthcosts.

The health law, the company said, “has propelled interest inexploring new ways to deliver care.”

Bloomberg News

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