Thursday, July 1, 2010

Health Insurance Reform Update

Starting today, July 1, individuals with pre-existing conditions can start applying for the new federal health coverage in most states except Michigan, Illinois, and California, to name a few of the states that will miss the deadline. One of the major components of the federal healthcare reform law was to provide for health insurance coverage for those individuals denied coverage due to serious medical conditions, such as cancer or diabetes, through high risk insurance pools. The Department of Health and Human Services decided the program would launch July 1 to coincide with the start of states' fiscal years, although the law required the program to be in place 90 days after its enactment.

Applications will be ready today for residents of about 20 states who opted to let HHS run the program. About 30 states chose to run the program themselves, of which about 20 will be operational by mid-July. Another 10 states are still working through legislative issues, among those is California which needs its legislature to pass 2 bills to allow it to run the program. If passed, California could begin taking applications in August and be fully up and running in September.

In addition to the premiums consumers will pay, the healthcare reform law allocates $5 billion for states to help run the program until 2014 when the pools are scheduled to be replaced by health insurance exchanges where everyone can buy insurance that cannot discriminate against those with medical conditions.

To qualify for the temporary insurance pool an individual must not have had health insurance for the past 6 months. Funds are limited so enrollment may be capped in some states.

No comments:

Post a Comment