Clinton Adds ‘Teeth’ to Insurance Law

President Clinton ordered that health insurers be denied federal contracts if they illegally refuse coverage to sick people who change or lose their jobs. Insurance industry representatives called the move a campaign-year publicity stunt. The president said he was giving “new teeth” to the 1996 Kennedy-Kassebaum law, which was intended to guarantee that Americans newly out of work could convert their group health insurance. Charles N. Kahn III, head of the Health Insurance Assn. of America, said state insurance commissioners and the federal Health Care Financing Administration already have the power to punish noncompliant companies with civil monetary fines.