Health Reform
Prioritizes Creating National
High-Risk Pool
National Hemophilia Foundation
e-notes
Great Lakes Hemophilia Foundation
Headline News -
May 2010
National Hemophilia Foundation
e-notes
Last month, President
Obama signed sweeping healthcare reform legislation into law.
Read a
summary of the health reform legislation. Some provisions of the law
will become effective as early as the end of June and many others by
September.
One of the first provisions taking
effect is the creation of a
temporary national high-risk pool to
provide coverage to adults who have
been uninsured for six months as a
result of pre-existing conditions.
The health reform bill provides $5
billion to create a network of risk
pools by July 1, which will exist
until 2014, after which insurance
companies will no longer be able to
deny coverage to adults with
pre-existing conditions. Unlike
current high-risk pools, the new
high-risk pool program will require
plans to keep their premiums at
"standard rates" that are no higher
than what the average person of that
age would pay for insurance in the
private market.
Many aspects of the new program are
still unclear, such as how the $5
billion will be distributed to
states. Last week, the Secretary of
the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services sent a letter to
states outlining several options for
implementing the new high-risk pool
program. Our current understanding
is that states with existing pools
will maintain them and create new
pools to satisfy the new law.
The implementation of the new
high-risk pool program is just one
example of how quickly some
provisions of the bill will be
implemented and the need to monitor
this process closely. NHF’s state
and federal advocacy teams are
working together to closely monitor
the implementation of the new laws.
We will keep you informed via
articles in eNotes, HemAware and on
the NHF Web site. Another good Web
site to track progress of the
implementation is:
www.healthreform.gov. Please
feel free to contact NHF’s advocacy
team if you have questions by
visiting
www.hemophilia.org.
The material provided in Headline
News is for your general information
only. GLHF does not give medical
advice or engage in the practice of
medicine. GLHF under no
circumstances recommends particular
treatment for specific individuals,
and in all cases recommends that you
consult your physician or treatment
center before pursuing any course of
treatment.
