Uproar spurs firm to restore pricey insurance

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By William Ehart

Guardian Life Insurance Co. said Thursday that it would restore coverage for severely disabled Ian Pearl, 37, one of 500 employees and dependents in New York state whose policies were canceled in a cost-cutting move.

Mr. Pearl's plight was the subject of a front-page article in The Washington Times on Oct. 14 and was subsequently highlighted on MSNBC and CNN. Guardian's decision was announced as Mr. Pearl's mother, Susan, was in Washington to lobby for health care reform and meet with members of Congress about her son's case.

A victim of muscular dystrophy who has been wheelchair-bound since he was 6, Mr. Pearl suffered respiratory arrest at 19 and has been hooked to a tracheal tube and breathing apparatus ever since.

He requires 24-hour nursing care and Mrs. Pearl and her husband, Warren, say he must have in-home care. Being in a hospital ward on Medicaid would be a "death sentence" for their son, they say.

Ian Pearl's medical bills are $1 million per year. His coverage was to expire in December, a year after Guardian's initial decision to discontinue the line of coverage he had.

Mrs. Pearl said late Thursday she was elated by Guardian's decision, but she expressed concern for the hundreds of policyholders who lost their coverage, including at least one other severely ill beneficiary in New York.

"I'm very encouraged to see Guardian taking responsibility for its conduct and to hear their intention of rescinding this plan withdrawal at least in Ian's case," she said.

"We would have to make sure that whatever deal is worked out with Guardian, absolutely [restoring the other policyholders] would have to be one of the conditions."

Guardian's e-mailed statement focused on Ian Pearl. It did not refer to the canceled policy types or to the other policyholders. Rather than canceling the coverage of specific people, Guardian discontinued a type of small-business plan dating to the 1980s that provided much more generous benefits, such as 24-hour in-home nursing, than nearly any other insurance plan available today.

Neither Medicare nor Medicaid provide such coverage.