Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan To Offer Much Lower Premiums

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- The government announced Tuesday that it will lower premiums and ease eligibility requirements for its fledgling health insurance program for people shut out from the private health insurance market because of pre-existing conditions. Premiums will fall by as much as 40 percent in some states.

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, run by the Department of Health and Human Services in 23 states and by state governments in the rest, offers relatively affordable coverage for people who've been uninsured for at least six months because of conditions like diabetes or heart disease. The plan launched last summer as one of the first components of the health care reform signed into law by President Obama in March 2010.

"This program changes lives, and in many cases saves lives," HHS director Kathleen Sebelius said on a Tuesday conference call with reporters.

Yet only 18,000 Americans have signed up for the PCIP. Officials initially said it would reach hundreds of thousands by the time the program is phased out in 2014, when it will become illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against the sick.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/pre-existing-condition_n_869040.html

Devil is in the details. K&R

way too unaffordable.

conditions. We CAN get insurance but the price is astronomical. BUT because they will insure us we do not qualify for this. At least that is how it was last time we looked into it. I hope that will change.

We had COBRA and thought he'd be denied coverage when it expired since he has a serious PEC. Instead they offered us a policy - $15,000 per year. Since he hasn't been "denied" coverage (which is one of the "details"), we can't apply for the new US policy. The insurance companies aren't stupid. They know/knew (hell they wrote the new Obama policy) that if they denied coverage, those uninsured people with big time PECs would then apply 6 months later at a much lower rate. Hell, we'd gamble for that 6 months in order to get a rate that's half as much. So instead the insurance companies have stopped denying coverage. You'll get offered a plan. Just not one you can afford.

Gotcha.

I'm sure the HCR people in Obama's administration know about this - I'm completely cynical that they surprised that so few people have signed up. We can't.

"Sebelius also said PCIP applicants will no longer have to brandish rejection letters from insurance companies to prove they have pre-existing conditions. Instead, a doctor's note will suffice."

They must be listening. Maybe Congress will some day too.

There is no way we could pay for the amount they wanted with both of us having PEC's. We do have catastrophic and it is expensive with a huge deductible but if something bad were to happen we would probably meet the deductible pretty quickly the way things are now with medical costs. It is still, in the long run, cheaper than regular health insurance. I don't know how people are going to manage. My husband made very good money and we retired early with a solid plan. That plan now means nothing and we are on the lucky side of things. I am terrified what is going to happen to people who were not so lucky and worried sick about my young adult children.

I am with you on the cynical side of things. Once an optimist, no longer one.

You can't have medical inflation going up at 7% a year, insurance premiums at 15-20% a year and GDP barely hitting 2-3% a year. Wages even less.

No idea.

The insurance agent insisted I had to be turned down first, but when I read the conditions it didn't read that way to me so I filled out the papers, checked the pre-existing condition box and a couple of weeks later I was in.

I don't know if there are certain state regs or not, would not surprise me. My state wanted to opt out of "Obama Care" but did not because we had a Democratic Governor, but now it will surprise me if they don't do it.

We will try this, thank you.

And under Obama's initial implementation of his plan, the Administration was simply adopting the states' plans until 2014.

If you don't live in IL, your state plan is probably different.

I'm hoping the poster downthread is correct that the insurance denial stipulation is being eliminated. That would help a lot of folks get into the plan, including maybe even us!

I still don't get why we have to wait til 2014 to make insurance companies do the right thing.

won't implode until after the 2012 election, they aren't stupid.

Technically, you can get insurance. So you might not have a better time with this new program as one poster has already alluded to. However, in theory, this is still better than what we have in place now. 2014 will be a big year in determining whether or not this has actually worked out.