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The claim: Health insurance companies’ exclusions for war, insurrection are new in 2024
A Jan. 28 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims several major insurance companies recently changed their policies because they’ve been tipped off to expected widespread violence.
“2024 health insurance policies modified to exclude coverage for war, riot, insurrection,” reads the post in part. “All these wars, insurrections, riots etc. are planned well in advance by the globalist deep state. Nothing is left to chance and nothing happens by accident.”
The post names UnitedHealthcare, Cigna and Anthem as companies that made the change in 2024. A previous version of the claim added Aetna to that list and was shared more than 60 times before it was deleted.
Other versions of the claim spread widely on TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Our rating: False
Past insurance policies show the companies in question had exclusions for such incidents prior to 2024.
Companies have had exclusions for war, insurrection for years
Excluding such events is neither new nor uncommon for health insurance companies.
Daniel Schwarcz, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, said health insurers had similar language in their policies before 2024.
Schwarcz said whatever an insurance company decides to include or exclude from its coverage is based on an economic calculation. The suggestion that those decisions were made in 2024 because companies had knowledge of events to come is “preposterous,” he said.
“Insurers universally attempt to limit their coverage for large, correlated risks that are plausible – that’s what’s going on here,” he said. “It’s not nefarious. It’s not like health insurers have any different information than the rest of us.”
Language from old policies found online shows the wording existed before 2024.
An archived version of a 2022 Anthem policy in New Hampshire, for example, says “no benefits are available” for treating injuries stemming from “war, participation in a riot or other act of insurrection.”
A 2022 Cigna policy in Mississippi also said it would not cover conditions caused by war or the beneficiary’s participation in an “insurrection, rebellion or riot.”
One of UnitedHealthcare’s college student insurance plans for the 2021-2022 school year also had an exclusion for injuries caused by participation in a “riot or civil disorder.” A graduate and postdoctoral student plan from 2016-2017 also excluded coverage for illnesses, treatments or conditions related to participation in a “felony, riot or insurrection.”
Reuters also reported in 2022 that various insurance companies had existing policies excluding such events from their coverage.
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Archived versions of Aetna life and disability insurance policy exclusions dating back to 2011 similarly denied coverage for disabilities related to “insurrection, rebellion, or taking part in a riot or civil commotion” as well as an act of war – whether declared or undeclared.
That changed in recent years. The company told USA TODAY that most Aetna commercial plans no longer exclude “war-related injuries.”
“Aetna generally removed such exclusions in 2018 when plan benefits underwent a comprehensive review,” said spokesperson Alex Kepnes.
USA TODAY has debunked an array of false claims surrounding health insurance, including that President Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order provided free health insurance, that insurance companies deny life insurance payouts after people receive the COVID-19 vaccine and that the Inflation Reduction Act expands free health insurance to people under 65.
USA TODAY reached out to several users who shared the post for comment.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Daniel Schwarcz, Feb. 16, Phone call with USA TODAY
- Alex Kepnes, Feb. 1, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Reuters, Oct. 13, 2022, Riots, commotion, insurrection: What does insurance cover when society wreaks havoc?
- Anthem, March 3, 2022, Individual Health Policy
- Cigna, January 2022, Exclusions and Limitations: What is Not Covered by This Policy
- UnitedHealthcare Student Resources, 2021, 2021-2022 Student Injury and Sickness Insurance Plan for University of North Texas System – Health Science Center at Fort Worth – Physician Assistants
- UnitedHealthcare Student Resources, 2016, 2016-2017 Student Health Insurance Plan for Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Aetna, Jan. 22, 2014, Limitations and Exclusions: Life
- Aetna, June 29, 2011, Limitations and Exclusions: Life
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