High-Risk Patients Fuel More Health-Law Worry - High-Risk Health-Insurance Pools Gain Brief Second Life

From The Wall Street Journal:

So-called high-risk pools for people rejected by commercial health-insurance companies were supposed to be largely phased out when President Barack Obama's health law kicked in. Instead, they are gaining a brief second life in some states due to the problems with the federal health-insurance exchange created by the law.

The development may represent short-term good news for the law, because it would keep some people with costly medical conditions out of the new policies, at least temporarily. But it adds to the uncertainty for insurers, analysts say, increasing concerns that could cause rates to rise for everyone next year.

 

High-risk pools operate in 35 states and insure about 200,000 people, typically those with medical conditions that make it hard for them to find coverage. About half of these states had planned to close their high-risk pools around the end of this year, because when the law takes full effect insurers must accept all customers regardless of their health history and may vary prices only slightly by age.

 

Now, in a sign of the uncertainty created by the health-law rollout, some states are taking a second look and considering extending their pools' lives. Such extensions could cost taxpayers money since some states contribute to the cost. In other states, insurers fund a large portion.

 

So-called high-risk pools for people rejected by commercial health-insurance companies were supposed to be largely phased out when President Barack Obama's health law kicked in. Instead, they are gaining a brief second life in some states due to the problems with the federal health-insurance exchange created by the law.
 

The development may represent short-term good news for the law, because it would keep some people with costly medical conditions out of the new policies, at least temporarily. But it adds to the uncertainty for insurers, analysts say, increasing concerns that could cause rates to rise for everyone next year.

 

While the moves would keep some people with illnesses out of the new insurance exchanges for a short time, they are an example of how insurers' assumptions about the health law keep getting upended. On Thursday, Mr. Obama said he was asking insurers to reinstate individual policies that were due to be canceled because they didn't comply with the law. Such moves could make it harder for the law to find solid footing.