Over 1,000 in PA applied for high-risk health plan on day one
As of midnight 1,147 Pennsylvanian's had applied for a high risk health plan the state is offering to uninsured people with preexisting medical conditions. If all are accepted, they would fill nearly a third of the 3,500 initial slots in the plan intended as a bridge until the federal health reform law is fully implemented in 2014. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are among 29 states that will offer such plans directly while residents in the other states, including Delaware, will be able to join plans run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Over 1,000 in PA applied for high-risk health plan on day one
Josh Goldstein
As of midnight 1,147 Pennsylvanian’s had applied for a high risk health plan the state is offering to uninsured people with preexisting medical conditions. If all are accepted, they would fill nearly a third of the 3,500 initial slots in the plan intended as a bridge until the federal health reform law is fully implemented in 2014.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey are among 29 states that will offer such plans directly while residents in the other states, including Delaware, will be able to join plans run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Check out the full story in today's editions of The Inquirer here.
The plans are available to U.S citizens and legal residents who are uninsured as a result of a preexisting medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease or other problems that have left them unable to get insurance in the private market. After 2014, insurers will be barred from excluding people with such conditions or charging them more than similarly situated people without such illnesses.
The federal government will spends $5 billion, including $160 million in Pennsylvania and $141 million in New Jersey on these preexisting condition insurance plans. You can get more information on the program here.
Pennsylvania officials encouraged people to apply online, saying it should take only 15 minutes. Click here to go to that site.
New Jersey residents can download the application here and mail it to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.
To check out more Check Up items go to www.philly.com/checkup.
Alas, in the absence of A solution, the people will take ANY solution. Obama's "health care reform" is a complete joke...all it did was increase the stock prices of health insurers.
Citizen, what exactly is your problem with this program? Obviously there is a need; people flocked to the program. The insureds will still be paying $280/month for this insurance, they don't get it for free. Lastly, Congress and the insurance companies they serve made sure that a single payer system was off the table, leaving a public/private partnership the only viable way to offer health care to the masses.— JQ
These are 1147 people who won't be using the Emergency Room brand of Socialized Medicine. That's the one where people with no Health Insurance use the ER without paying. It's Socialized Medicine because the taxpayers foot the bill. Which is what the people who want to opt out of President Obama's plan want because they don't want to be "forced" to get Health Insurance. They'd rather settle for Socialized Medicine as practiced in the Emergency Room it seems.- I wouldn't be surprised if this program doesn't fill up by the end of the day. This shows the MASSIVE need for a public option. If Congress wasn't in the pockets of the insurance companies, we'd have one now.— Blanketman
- Abington Memorial Hospital
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
- American Medical Association
- Aria Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Consumer Medication Safety site from ISMP
- Cooper University Hospital
- Crozer-Keystone Health System
- ECRI Institute
- Inquirer Health & Science
- Institute for Safe Medication Practices
- Jefferson Health System
- Kaiser Health News
- Kennedy Health System
- Lourdes Health System
- Medical Society of New Jersey
- Mercy Health System
- New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services
- New Jersey Hospital Association
- NPR.org Shots
- NYTimes.com: Well
- Penn Medicine
- Pennsylvania Department of Health
- Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council
- Pennsylvania Medical Society
- Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority
- St. Mary Medical Center
- Temple University Health System
- Tenet Healthcare
- The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty
- The Chester County Hospital
- The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Virtua
- WSJ.com Health
