Eligibility for new health care law’s pre-existing insurance program made more realistic.

We are glad to report some good and sane news today.

The pre-existing insurance plan created as part of The Affordable Care Act has always been a sore point with this Foundation and with many health care activists and with good reason. The eligibility rules surrounding the plan were written with political motivation behind them.

For example, my husband has Multiple Sclerosis and to apply for the high risk pool, he had to go and apply for coverage with a private insurance company and furnish a letter of denial. Not hard to do when one has Progressive-Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis. But think about the ridiculousness of this exercise in futility.

Thankfully, things have changed for the better and certain restrictions are gone.

But there is still one sticking point and that’s the rule stating that a person with a pre-existing condition must be WITHOUT insurance for six months prior to applying to the high risk pool still stands. Progress is slow.

More information can be found from PCIP.gov.

From the LA Times:

The Obama administration, expanding a program created by the new healthcare law, moved Tuesday to make health insurance more affordable and accessible for Americans who have been denied coverage because they are sick.

Across the country, the federal government is reducing premiums on special coverage available to uninsured people with preexisting conditions such as cancer or diabetes.

And the administration is loosening restrictions on who can sign up for so-called preexisting condition insurance plans.

These plans were created by the health overhaul that President Obama signed last year. They are meant to provide temporary aid to sick Americans until 2014, when insurance companies will no longer be allowed deny coverage to people who are sick.

But the number of people signing up for these plans has lagged, in part because of high premiums and stringent eligibility guidelines.

Now, federal officials estimate, premiums in some states could come down as much as 40%, thanks to a more refined analysis of what the plans should charge.

The administration is directly slashing premiums in the District of Columbia and most of the 23 states that have elected to have the federal government run their health plans. The remaining 27 states, which each run their own plans, will be able to reduce premiums, as well.

At the same time, the administration will no longer require applicants for these plans to furnish a letter from an insurance company showing they had been denied coverage. Instead, applicants will need only a letter from a doctor, nurse or physician’s assistant stating they have a medical condition.

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