By Grace-Marie Turner.
States have been operating high-risk pools for decades, long before the ACA’s Temporary High Risk Plan was instituted, providing coverage to tens of thousands of their citizens.
The House of Representatives is considering an initiative to provide new federal assistance to the states to create or maintain high-risk pools and continue providing coverage to these vulnerable citizens, using money from an ACA Preventive Care Fund that the Obama administration plans to instead divert to advertising and enrollment for ObamaCare.
The Galen Institute’s analysis shows that at least 45 states have some mechanisms in place to provide safety net coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and/or high medical expenses who otherwise would have difficulty purchasing insurance in the private market.
Continuing state-based coverage would allow states to tailor safety net programs to meet the needs of their citizens instead of diverting taxpayer dollars to advertising and hiring navigators.
Here is our analysis showing states that have high-risk pools they had formed independently, state-managed ACA risk pools, and other mechanisms states employ to assure that people can purchase insurance, including guaranteed issue. In all 45 states have some mechanism to provide safety-net coverage to the uninsured with pre-existing conditions.
45 states with existing safety net coverage