A recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services concludes that 12.6 million people – or 36 percent of those who attempted to buy health coverage during the past year –  were rejected by private insurance plans. Many of them had cancer.

This resonates here at SLHI, a small employer, where our insurance carrier quoted a renewal rate for 2010 that was 72 percent higher than the current year! We could go to a higher deductible of course – then they will raise our premium a mere 30 percent. Clearly, they would prefer that we go away.

But go where? We don’t have a lot of options – and some of us are alleged “experts” on the subject of health insurance coverage. Woe unto those who work for a small business, have a pre-existing condition or who have actually had an illness in the past. Then your “freedom to choose” falls off a cliff.