By DANIEL SUDDEATH
Daniel.Suddeath@newsandtribune.com
> SOUTHERN INDIANA —
Americans denied health coverage due to pre-existing medical conditions have a new avenue for obtaining insurance.
Through the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has established a transitional plan that will last until 2014, when insurance companies will be prohibited from excluding adults with pre-existing conditions. The federal health care reform package earmarked $5 billion for the measure, known as the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, or PCIP.
To qualify, a person must have been uninsured for at least six months and been denied coverage due to a health condition. Only U.S. citizens or those residing in the country legally can apply for the plan.
“For too long, Americans with pre-existing conditions have been locked out of our health insurance market,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. The PCIP “gives them a new option — the same insurance coverage as a healthy individual if they’ve been uninsured for at least six months because of a medical condition.”
The program went into effect July 1 in Indiana, and is set to cover primary and specialty care along with prescription drugs.
Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., voted in favor of the health care reform package in Congress and lauded the “quick deployment” of the PCIP.
“This is welcome news to so many Southern Indiana residents who have been unfairly unable to secure affordable coverage because they have a pre-existing condition,” he said.
Indiana is one of 21 states that elected to have the Department of Health and Human services run its plan, as did Kentucky. States could choose to administer their own PCIP.
The Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, or OCIIO, is supervising the program.
“The [PCIP] is an important next step in the overall implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” said Richard Popper, director of insurance programs for OCIIO.
“We have been working closely with the states and other stakeholders to make sure this program reaches uninsured Americans struggling to find coverage due to a pre-existing condition.”
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On the web
• To learn more about the pre-existing condition plan, visit the website www.healthcare.gov. Indiana and Kentucky residents can be linked directly to the application page since the states have agreed to allow the federal government to run their programs.
