It was already clear that, under the Senate bill, insurers would not be prohibited from using your health status against you until 2014. In the meantime, they could continue to deny you coverage or charge you higher premiums.
Now comes word that a program the Senate would create to provide relief until 2014 could run out of money as early as 2011.
That's the assessment of Richard S. Foster, chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in a Dec. 10 report.
The White House disagrees, but if Foster's analysis is correct, "Congress would either have to pony up more money ... or risk the wrath of those who signed up for the program only to have it pulled out from under them," said Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University who specializes in health-care law.
Recognizing that the legislation would leave people with preexisting conditions vulnerable for several years, until a new marketplace for insurance is up and running, authors of the Senate bill included the stopgap program to provide relief until 2014, as advocated by the White House.
Called a "high-risk pool," it would be a special health plan just for people with preexisting conditions, who are costlier to insure.
A plan just for sick people could require extraordinarily high premiums. However, to make it more affordable, the bill would set aside $5 billion for federal subsidies.
According to Foster, that's not enough.
"By 2011 and 2012 the initial $5 billion in Federal funding for this program would be exhausted, resulting in substantial premium increases to sustain the program; we anticipate such increases would limit further participation," he wrote.
On Saturday, White House spokesman Reid Cherlin rejected that conclusion. "We disagree with their analysis on this point, and we're confident that the high-risk pool will be sufficiently funded," he said in a statement.
The bill says that if the $5 billion proves inadequate, the secretary of Health and Human Services "shall make such adjustments as are necessary to eliminate such deficit." Could that include freezing enrollment? The bill doesn't say.
In a November interview about the high-risk pool, White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass said Americans who are victims of insurance discrimination today "will have immediate protections under this bill."
Also in November, a senior administration official said the high-risk pool would help people "most abused by the current system."
Even if Congress increased funding for the high-risk pool, some people with preexisting conditions could continue to go without care or incur crushing expenses. To qualify for the pool, people would have to be uninsured for six months.
We asked the White House what would happen to people who face major medical expenses during that period. Cherlin's statement Saturday did not address that issue.
]]>
It was already clear that, under the Senate bill, insurers would not be prohibited from using your health status against you until 2014. In the meantime, they could continue to deny you coverage or charge you higher premiums.
Now comes word that a program the Senate would create to provide relief until 2014 could run out of money as early as 2011.
That's the assessment of Richard S. Foster, chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in a Dec. 10 report.
The White House disagrees, but if Foster's analysis is correct, "Congress would either have to pony up more money ... or risk the wrath of those who signed up for the program only to have it pulled out from under them," said Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University who specializes in health-care law.
Recognizing that the legislation would leave people with preexisting conditions vulnerable for several years, until a new marketplace for insurance is up and running, authors of the Senate bill included the stopgap program to provide relief until 2014, as advocated by the White House.
Called a "high-risk pool," it would be a special health plan just for people with preexisting conditions, who are costlier to insure.
A plan just for sick people could require extraordinarily high premiums. However, to make it more affordable, the bill would set aside $5 billion for federal subsidies.
According to Foster, that's not enough.
"By 2011 and 2012 the initial $5 billion in Federal funding for this program would be exhausted, resulting in substantial premium increases to sustain the program; we anticipate such increases would limit further participation," he wrote.
On Saturday, White House spokesman Reid Cherlin rejected that conclusion. "We disagree with their analysis on this point, and we're confident that the high-risk pool will be sufficiently funded," he said in a statement.
The bill says that if the $5 billion proves inadequate, the secretary of Health and Human Services "shall make such adjustments as are necessary to eliminate such deficit." Could that include freezing enrollment? The bill doesn't say.
In a November interview about the high-risk pool, White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass said Americans who are victims of insurance discrimination today "will have immediate protections under this bill."
Also in November, a senior administration official said the high-risk pool would help people "most abused by the current system."
Even if Congress increased funding for the high-risk pool, some people with preexisting conditions could continue to go without care or incur crushing expenses. To qualify for the pool, people would have to be uninsured for six months.
We asked the White House what would happen to people who face major medical expenses during that period. Cherlin's statement Saturday did not address that issue.
]]>