Iowa legislators met in the Senate on Monday to discuss the state’s federally-funded high risk insurance pool. Lawmakers were given copies of an editorial from the Des Moines Register during the meeting which outlined the program’s failure to enroll HIV-positive residents. The meeting quickly grew heated as lawmakers questioned members of the state’s Insurance Division over the matter. The insurance pool’s executive director, Cecil Bykerk, was also in attendance at the meeting and was subjected to questioning as well. Senator Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, had strong criticism for the insurance…
Read MoreTag: preexisting health insurance
High-risk health insurance pool in Colorado asks federal government for almost $15 million more in funding
After experiencing claims that have now totaled twice the average for the country, the struggling high-risk health insurance pool in Colorado has now asked the federal government for additional funding of almost $15 million more than originally anticipated. Colorado has already received $90 from a total pool of $5 billion in federal money for assistance in carrying out an element of the country’s healthcare reform which involved insuring high-risk uninsurable individuals. The funds were meant to hold out until the insurance regulations are fully in place in 2014, at which…
Read MoreSporadic health insurance coverage could be just as bad as no coverage at all, according to new study
Having sporadic health insurance coverage may seem like a good idea for those that have trouble making ends meet, but the costs may be the same as not having any insurance coverage at all. A recent study from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research shows that diabetic patients with sporadic insurance coverage were very likely to skip preventative care and examinations. According to the study, these patients skipped out on tests just as frequently as people without any insurance coverage. In the end, a plan that was meant to…
Read MoreCalifornia insurance program a major success among those with pre-existing conditions
California may have been the last state to launch an interim health insurance program before the Affordable Care Act takes effect, but its program is now ranked the second most successful behind that of Pennsylvania’s. The program began several months after the health care reform law was passed. It was created to offer those with pre-existing medical conditions, such as cancer and diabetes, access to affordable health insurance policies. The state received an unexpectedly high federal grant to promote the program, which saw its enrollment skyrocket in recent months. When…
Read MoreSubsidized California health insurance program fails to meet enrollment goals
A subsidized program for health insurance in California that offers consumers an affordable form of protection when they have pre-existing medical conditions, has managed to break the 5,000 member level at its first birthday, but this was notably lower than the anticipated enrollment. The state had received $761 million from the federal government in order to operate the program until the 2014 start of the new healthcare insurance requirements for state-run insurance exchanges as a part of the Obama Administration’s healthcare overhaul. At the start of this subsidized insurance program,…
Read More