question about the health care bill - high risk pool

[Soylent Brice]

when is the high risk pool available, and how would one find it? is there a link that someone can go to to find out more info about getting ins?

i have a friend that has a med condition and keeps getting denied disability, and can't get insurance.

she's in bad shape.

any help is greatly appreciated.

[ramapo]

1. Not yet

I believe it is 6-months after enactment so I guess that would be September-ish. How it will work is a mystery. I think it will be through the states, at least in the case of those that already have some type of high-risk pool in place.

One crazy requirement is that you must have been without insurance for at least six months. Unfortunately it sounds like your friend meets this criteria. I shudder to think of all that can happen if you lose coverage and then have to WAIT six months to get into the pool.

Affordability is another question.

This bill was better than nothing and I was happy to see it pass but in reality much of it sucks and our representatives (Senators in particular) should be ashamed (if any of them were capable fo such an emotion).

[Soylent Brice]

3. she's been without coverage for over 2 yrs.

it doesn't seem like she'll have too much trouble meeting requirements with her situation.

thank you for the info.

[alc]

2. here are some links

Looks like Secretary of Health and Human Services has to release the details within 90 days of passage:
http://www.mhip.org/ (Missouri site but has fed details)

This says the pool is to be created within 90 days, not just details released
http://www.healthinsurance.org/risk_pools/

And a little more info
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/how-much-will-the-high-risk-pools-cost/?ref=health

[Soylent Brice]

4. thank you for the links!!!