The wait for 4-year interim high-risk pools to provide temporary health insurance coverage for those with pre-existing conditions should be over this week. That’s according to the time frame laid out in health care reform legislation. The reality is less certain.
Politics are on full display in states’ decisions to set up required high-risk pools or let the federal government run a program for them. The District of Columbia and 29 other states have told the Department of Health and Human Services that they will set up their own health insurance programs. Another 18 states have declined. Two states, Florida and Arizona – the usual retarded stepchildren — haven’t even formally responded yet.
If you are under age 26, you may be wondering where the new healthcare legislation leaves you. The rules for continued coverage under your parents’ plan are complex and convoluted, which aligns them with the healthcare bill as a whole. But there’s good news.
As states scramble to set up or modify their high-risk pools to meet the July 1 healthcare reform deadline, they may want to look to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Though a high-risk pool is an intrinsically flawed concept, a topic we’ve covered before, Minnesota has found a way to make its model successful. So how does this Midwestern state do it, and why might you want to move there for temporary coverage?
In an interesting test case for future federal insurance regulatory powers, on Thursday Massachusetts denied almost 86% of proposed health insurance rate hikes for 2010. That’s 235 of 274 hikes averted, worth $6-8 million a month, if anyone’s counting.
