Recently, Governor Schwarzenegger (CA), vetoed a health insurance bill created to protect policyholders from cancellation of their policies. The bill would not have allowed the insurance companies to cancel coverage for a policyholder who had expensive claims that had no independent review.
The independent review process would allow insurers to cancel policies only if they could prove that customer intentionally lied about their health on their application, reported the Associated Press and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
So why would Governor Schwarzenegger veto a seemingly sound consumer protections bill? According the AP article, the governor struck down the legislation because it didn't contain six provisions that he wanted included. The article also cited Schwarzenegger as saying, "[The bill was] written by the attorneys that stand to benefit from its provisions."
Critics of Governor Shwarzenegger are pointing fingers at his 'flip-flopping" on his own insurance initiatives, by vetoing the bill. One lawmaker in CA revealed that some of the provisions the Governor wanted included were already in other bills.
"The governor's veto betrays the promise he repeatedly made to Californians to protect them from insurance companies canceling their health insurance when they need it most," said president of the California Medical Association, Dr. Richard Frankenstein. Something smells funny with this veto.