mrs. beaton's case. and he further promised that if the facts were as she said, and i said, that her coverage would be reinstated. good to his word, the president called me back within four hours and said that ms. beaton's coverage would be reinstated. however, precious time was lost. luckily for robin, she was finally able to get the surgery. not through blue cross/blue shield, though, as i understand it. she's now undergoing chemotherapy because the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes. but she is still with us, thank god. and she's here today to tell us her personal story. robin's situation was what caused notice draft an amendment to represent the breast cancer bill last year to protect people like robin by prohibiting recisions of health insurance if nondisclosure of information is not related to the claim. not related to the claim, and inadvertent. there is no reason on god's green earth that somebody ought to have their health insurance revoked because of some inadvertent omission that's not relat

mr. chairman, and thank you, members of the committee for your efforts. >> thank you. ms. beaton, which like to give your opening statement now? pulled that out, take your time. >> mr. chairman and members of the committee, jerry honored to be here to share my story. my name is robert beaton, 59-years-old and i was a registered nurse for 50 years. i have insurance, i was in good health, i retired from nursing, started my own small business, obtained a personal individual policy from blue cross blue shield in december 2007. in may of 2008i went to a dermatologist for acne, pimples. a word was written down on my chart which was considered to mean precancerous. in june, 2008i was diagnosed with invasive genetic breast cancer, a very aggressive form of cancer. i needed a double mastectomy immediately. blue cross blue shield recertified me for my surgery and hospital stay. the friday before i was to have my double mastectomy, blue cross and blue shield called me by telephone and told me that my chart was red flag to. what does that mean, i said. and they said due to the dermatologist

mr. chairman. ms. beaton, let me ask you, blue cross/blue shield came back to you after you need the surgery and said they were taking your insurance and the state of recision was dated back to the date of enactment of the insurance. is that correct? >> i am kind of hard of hearing. >> your recision was effective on december 2007 which was the date the insurance was initiated? is that correct? >> they gave me back all of my premiums. i never cashed the check because mr. barton told me never to cash it and i never did that they resented all my money back to the day, in simple language they wanted nothing to do with me and they gave me back and a penny that i'd given to them and they considered never being injured by them. >> and ms. raddatz what about your brother situation? was there a refund of premium back to the date of the recession? >> yes, they didn't actually get to that point because it got resolved before they refunded the money but they sent a letter stating yes, you are rescinded to the date of the

beaton. we'll also hear from mr. horton and mr. raddatz where the threat or actual termination of insurance policies cause pain, frustration and great expense. we may be here to discuss valid uses for procedural aspects of recisions, medical underwriting, and other corporate practices. there are some actions we should no longer allow insurance companies to do. playing gotcha with policyholders who have serious illnesses and huge expenses must stop. insurance companies cannot wait until customers are sick or filing claims to verify their medical history and decide whether or not they want them as a customer. this is what they're supposed to be doing when they sign the member up. if the company does not conduct a review of unclear or incomplete information on the application, then the plan should not use subsequently acquired information as a basis for rescinding coverage. this practice is known as post-claims underwriting. the company should conduct its due diligence at the time the application is filled out and submitted prior to i