“When Steve and Leslie Shaeffer’s daughter, Selah, was diagnosed at age 4 with a potentially fatal tumor in her jaw, they figured their health insurance would cover the bulk of her treatment costs.” But “shortly after Selah’s medical bills hit $20,000, Blue Cross stopped covering them and eventually canceled her coverage retroactively.”

So begins a recent report in The Los Angeles Times titled “Sick but Insured? Think Again,” which offers a series of similar horror stories, and suggests that these stories represent a growing trend: more and more health insurers are finding ways to yank your insurance when you get sick

I read an article like that and I thank God/Buddha/Vishnu/Allah/the quantum flux of the cosmos for the 1945 Labour government, in my country, which introduced our wonderfully socialist National Health Service
so I, with my mental health problems, am looked after and one of my friends doesn't have to worry about bills whilst her son is treated for non-hodgkins lymphoma - at times like that you don't need the stress

Insurance Horror Stories - New York Times