This morning, some seriously disturbing news came out about a "tweak" in the Senate health care bill. The AP reports:

A loophole in the Senate health care bill would let insurers place annual dollar limits on medical care for people struggling with costly illnesses such as cancer, prompting a rebuke from patient advocates.

The legislation that originally passed the Senate HELP committee last summer would have banned such limits, but a tweak to that provision weakened it in the bill now moving toward a Senate vote.

From the beginning of this debate, one of President Obama's key tenants in fixing our health insurance system has been to outlaw annual and lifetime limits on insurance coverage. Removing caps on annual benefits is part of a larger package that includes abolishing "pre-existing conditions" and requiring insurers to cover preventative care. This "tweak" threatens to undermine what is a comprehensive, integrated approach to regulating health insurers - and it will set us way back in terms of ending insurance company abuse. The AP continues:

As currently written, the Senate Democratic health care bill would permit insurance companies to place annual limits on the dollar value of medical care, as long as those limits are not "unreasonable."

Anyone familiar with legislative language knows that "unreasonable" limits is a loophole, and one insurers will surely exploit. Annual caps unfairly burden people with chronic illnesses precisely when they need care the most. In the end, these caps can result in costly medical bankruptcies that hurt our economy and the nation.

We're calling on all members of Congress to disavow this secret handout to big insurance. Write Congress right now - tell them to close the big insurance loophole.