Health Coverage Available for High-Risk Patients

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Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said people with a history of health problems may apply to a new federal high-risk pool this month.

by Adam Lynch
July 2, 2010

Mississippi residents can apply for a new federally financed and operated high-risk health insurance pool this month as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that President Barack Obama signed in March.

"The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is designed to ... (offer) comprehensive coverage," Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney told the Jackson Free Press today. "Part of the federal government's plan to reform health care in our country centers around those with pre-existing medical conditions that may have prevented them from being able to find health insurance."

Chaney's office said a federal website began taking applications July 1 "for people who have not had insurance coverage for at least six previous months and have been turned down for coverage by a private insurer because of a medical problem such as cancer, AIDS, diabetes, obesity or hypertension."

The federal government made a one-time payment of $5 billion to the pool, which will cover high-risk customers until 2014 when insurance companies must begin accepting high-risk policy holders. The reform makes it illegal for insurance companies to reject any customer with a history of health problems after 2014. The law kicks in as early as this fall for children.

Chaney said that states had the option to allow the federal government to run and finance the high-risk pool, or could adopt ownership and operation of the pool, while using a federal stipend. Of the $5 billion, Mississippi qualifies for $47 million over the three-year life of the pool, but Chaney said the federal government was better organized and in a better financial condition to run the pool.

"We opted not to operate it ourselves because the feds could get it up and running quicker than we could and we didn't have the money to operate it. We would have run out of (our $47 million annual allocation) in about a year," Chaney said. "Of the 29 states that opted to run the program themselves, 21 of them told HHS that they couldn't have the program up and running until the first of August or the first of September."

Chaney said there was no guarantee what would happen to Mississippi customers if the state surpassed its annual federal allowance. The commissioner stated that those who apply by July 15 will begin receiving coverage by Aug. 1. The plan is designed to cover a broad range of health benefits, including primary and specialty care, hospital care and prescription drugs. Eligibility, he added, is not based on income and the plan does not charge a higher premium because of a pre-existing medical condition. Chaney warned, however, that "affordability will be an issue."

Chaney's Spokesman Joseph Ammerman said it was impossible to have rate examples until customers began applying.

"We were quoted (customer payments) of anywhere between $400 to $900 a month, but it's hard to say because I think it's based on the common rates of the state. Some states are higher than others, so I don't think you'll be able to narrow that down until you have pool of applicants and people get prices quoted to them," Ammerman said.

Roy Mitchell, director of Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, nevertheless described the risk pool as a blessing to people who could not normally have insurance.

"Finally people who have been excluded from insurance because pre-existing conditions can buy a plan that they can afford," Mitchell said. "They couldn't get it before because insurance companies absolutely refused to cover them."

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