California individual health insurance companies got some news today that's bad for them, but very good for consumers. Both Kaiser Permanente and Health Net have agreed to reinstate 1200 people whose medical insurance was canceled when they needed it most.

The LA Times reports that the individual health insurance market has been under a lot of scrutiny in recent months, ever since a Gardena woman won $9-million in her suit against Health Net for canceling her coverage while she was undergoing chemotherapy, and thereby halting her treatment.

Now, another 1200 people whose coverage was canceled when they got sick will be eligible once again for their individual health insurance coverage, regardless of cost. In each case the insurance agencies argue that there was information in their applications that wasn't true. Therefore, they'd received their coverage under fraudulent means.

But in many cases, innocent errors had occurred because, as we all know, those insurance forms are as long as they are confusing. Both insurance companies have suggested that they plan to make their forms easier to understand in the future.