Pennsylvania has submitted its proposal for a temporary high-risk insurance pool.
The pool would be designated for a limited number of uninsured residents who have health conditions that preclude them from securing coverage elsewhere, according to Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario.
"Our high-risk insurance pool will help several thousand Pennsylvanians who are simply unable to afford health insurance due to pre-existing medical conditions," Ario said.
The high-risk insurance pool would, if approved by the Department of Health and Human Services, provide the commonwealth with access to more than $160 million in federal funds to provide coverage and care to high-risk residents until new insurance exchanges that will be created as part of the national Health Care Reform Act take effect in 2014.
Governors from 15 states have reportedly informed the federal government they will not take part in managing high-risk health insurance pools. Expected to open within 90 days, the pools are part of the new healthcare reform law, which has allotted $5 billion for them.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the high-risk health insurance pools are to provide temporary insurance until 2014 for individuals denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. The law allows state governments to run them or opt out of the program, allowing the federal government to administer them.
Thirty-five states have existing high-risk pools; the new law would keep those in place and allow the states to enhance them.