Federal health insurance program is at risk of having funds run dry
The Affordable Care Act may be running out of funding for one of the key programs set up throughout one of its most ambitious provisions. The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program was set up through the Affordable Care Act as a way to ensure that those with pre-existing medical conditions have access to comprehensive health insurance coverage. The federal law requires that this insurance program be funded by the federal government itself, but the funds for the program are in serious danger of running dry.
Program backed by $5 billion may not have enough money
The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program is estimated to cost approximately $5 billion. Critics of the measure claim that this is not enough money to provide comprehensive health insurance coverage for those that are in need. The program itself is designed to be a temporary measure, offering coverage to consumers for a time until private health insurance companies can become fully compliant with new federal regulations. Because it is difficult to know for sure when this time will come, the actual costs of the health insurance program are not known for sure and are expected to surpass $5 billion in significant fashion.
Costs of serious disease and chronic illness continue to grow
The growing costs associated with the health insurance program may not be entirely due to federal oversight and other problems concerning the Affordable
Care Act. The insurance program is designed to provide coverage to those with serious, often expensive, medical conditions. Ailments like cancer and heart disease are notoriously expensive to treat, and medical care continues to grow increasingly expensive as new technologies, medications, and practices are introduced to the medical field. The expensive nature of disease and chronic illness is one among several factors that are contributing to the growing costs of the health insurance program.
Lawmakers look to find more funding for health insurance program
While funds for the program may be drying up, federal lawmakers are not eager to allow the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program fall by the wayside. Legislators from both political parties are working to address the financial issues that exist with the program by pulling funds from other parts of the Affordable Care Act. Some lawmakers suggest that the program will required funding ranging beyond $30 billion in order to take form, but other suggest that only a moderate increase in funding will be necessary.
