Obama Law May Cost Children as Insurers Drop Coverage

UnitedHealth Group Inc. and insurers in Florida and Oklahoma stopped offering children-only health coverage because of the potential added costs of sick youngsters under the new U.S. health-care law, state officials said today.

UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule subsidiary won’t sell new policies that cover only children, foreclosing an option for parents seeking cheaper care, Kevin McCarty, Florida’s insurance commissioner, said at a meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in Washington, D.C. Tyler Mason, a UnitedHealth spokesman, disputed the statement in a telephone interview, saying the company still issues such coverage.