Insurance Pools Readied in Some States

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/health/policy/27insure.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The Obama administration is poised to award contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to about 20 states to run new insurance pools for people with serious medical problems.

In another 20 states, where local officials chose not to participate, the federal government will run the pools through a private nonprofit entity.

Applications will be available to the public in many states on Thursday, and coverage could start as early as August, said Richard A. Popper, deputy director of the new federal Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.

After struggling for months to fend off Republican attacks on the new health care law, White House officials hope the high-risk insurance pool will produce tangible benefits for people who are uninsured — and for Democrats running in midterm elections this fall. The law has become an issue in many races.


more about each state at link

I'm sure we can look forward to reams of horror stories, brought to us by the very broken MSM.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/health/policy/27insure.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Kären J. Larson, executive director of the Washington State Health Insurance Pool, estimated that 2,300 people would qualify. But she said premiums could be high — $800 a month for a 45-year-old buying a policy with a $500 deductible.

$800 a month???? Get real.

It also said in the article "State officials said they would freeze enrollment if necessary to keep within their budgets. It is not clear who would be legally responsible for claims that remain unpaid after a state’s allotment runs out."

So, after the money runs out... better hope you don't need to see a doctor... and, of course, it's set up for people that are "high risk", as in... they need to see a doctor a lot.

The pain just continues... people who have a "pre-existing condition" still can't afford to pay that much, nor can they afford to go without seeing a doctor. And, as always, the poor will suffer the most.

The premium is ridiculous because of the small risk-prone pool. This is what happens when you create an insurance company bailout "health insurance" program. The private racket gets all the healthy people and then leaves those more likely to need care to go into a taxpayer-subsidized "high risk pool." Privatize the profit, socialize the loss.

I wish Washington could simply enact single-payer statewide, but their ability to do so is prohibited by federal statute. That provision was going to be rescinded, but obama's "signature program" scuttled that. After all, he needs those premium-financed bribes "campaign contributions" from the insurance racket in 2012!

I'm still choking over the $800 a month number.

It only has a $50 deductible and it taken out of my check pre-tax.

That covers my husband, me, and our daughter and it lowers my taxable income. $800 a month for one person...and a $500 deductible is staggering.

But $800 a month? I'm still choking over that number.

"Ticked off" is going to be an inadequate expression of my feelings. Furious, outraged, enraged will probably be a much better description.

And terrified... because I really wouldn't be able to afford it, so I'd have to go without.

Were told that we were angry because we didn't get a pony.

It was a very frustrating time.

And then have COBRA, after COBRA expires, it is my understanding that you must wait a full six months before you are eligible.

Which is really tough for some people. The Committee of Ten Thousand, a group that represents hemophiliacs, says that for a hemophiliac, the out of pocket costs to remain alive are $ 25,000 a month. So that six month wait will actually kill some people. (I will write that out in case someone thinks it is one of my usual typos - twenty five thousand dollars a month.)