With enrollment lagging in new health care programs for people with pre-existing conditions, a nonprofit advocacy group is recommending that the waiting period for high risk pools be shortened or eliminated.
Health care reform requires that a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan be implemented in each state. The federal government has granted $5 billion in subsidies to help people with health problems access affordable insurance. Patients need to have been uninsured for six months in order to enroll in the plans.
But a year after health reform passed, these programs are highly underutilized. According to Associated Press writer David E. Lieb, "When Missouri began taking applications in July 2010 for its federally mandated Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, officials expected to cover about 3,000 people…One year later, it has just one-sixth of that amount — about 500 enrollees."
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The Congressional Budget Office estimates that as many as 4 million uninsured Americans would be eligible for the PCIP programs. According to information released by HHS in July, less than 25,000 individuals were enrolled.
Minnesota-based Communicating for America (CA) believes one solution to the enrollment problem is that the waiting period is too long.
"Based on the results of our survey and more than 35 years of experience CA has with high risk pools, we believe HHS and Congress need to reduce the waiting period from six months to three months, or eliminate the waiting period altogether and move instead to an annual open enrollment period to reduce adverse selection," said CA President Wayne Nelson.
Other major findings of the survey:
- 86% believe they need health insurance
- 69% believe that having a licensed agent assist them is important
- 90% feel that a six-month waiting period for those without insurance is too long
- 76% list the high premium cost as the main factor in not having insurance
"Additionally, HHS should experiment with other ways to encourage enrollment: reduce language barriers, utilize the power of associations to reach their members, implement advertising campaigns focused on workforce centers and job search websites to target those most likely to be without insurance, and allow the plans to offer enrollees plans with less comprehensive benefits which would be less costly," said Nelson.
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