Blue Cross of California has agreed to settle more than 70 lawsuits and claims filed by patients who accused the state's largest health insurer of illegally canceling their coverage after they got sick. The settlements will allow the former policyholders to pay hefty medical bills that they were stuck with after losing their insurance.

The issue behind this story is the fact that carriers of individual health insurance policies have been rescinding or cancelling policies after they have been issued, based on alleged errors or omissions in the applications for coverage. State regulators say that the carriers must prove that the application errors or omissions were intentional. Blue Cross has canceled some policies based on errors that could not be proven to be intentional on the part of the applicant.

Pick up the thread of this story at Healthcare Shopper, Hospitals sue Blue Cross of California