Good News for Those with Pre-existing Conditions One group who is among the biggest beneficiaries of the new health care law is those that are considered uninsurable due to preexisting conditions. This is due to the new law found within the Affordable Care Act that states that insurance companies cannot deny you affordable health insurance due to a preexisting condition (PEC). Thousands of individuals, who suffered from costly illnesses, disease, or injuries, are rejected by health insurance companies for fear that they would lose a lot of money by covering that individual. This problem left the people that needed financial assistance for medical needs the most, with little help. The government saw this problem inflicting Americans and strove to fix this problem with the creation of the Affordable Care Act.
Previous Plans Previously two programs, run by the federal government, provided this population with health insurance benefits prior to the complete rollout of the Affordable Care Act. These two plans were mutually exclusive— only one could be present in a state at a time. These temporary programs were initiated and funded with the passing of the Affordable Care Act. For states that wished to not run a preexisting condition insurance program participated in a federally run insurance plan called Pre-existing Insurance Plan or PCIP. For those states who wished to run their own program, using mostly federal dollars, they would have the same program, but under a different name. For example, in the state of Utah, this plan was called the health insurance plan or HIP. These programs were designed by the federal government to create consumer driven health plans in the absence of these plans being found in the private sector. These programs were due to end by the end of fiscal year 2013.
This was due to the fact that these individuals would be able to sign up for health insurance benefits through federally or state run online exchanges beginning on October 1, 2013. Although these individuals could sign up for these new insurance plans starting on October 1, 2013, coverage would not become active until January 1, 2014, or when these PEC programs would end.
No Interruptions The initial design was to allow individuals with preexisting conditions to sign up for PCIP or a state run program and receive benefits until January 1, 2014, to provide no interruption to active coverage. However, due to overwhelming demand, in both quantity of applications and quantity of subsequent claims, these stop-gap programs ran out of money and refused to accept new applicants starting on March 2013. Those in the programs would be allowed to remain until the end of the year, provided funds would not run out. This change of direction was due to the fact that the programs were funded by a single grant of money from the federal government as part of the Affordable Care Act’s signing into law. Those with preexisting conditions (e.g. uninsurable individuals) who did not apply to these programs prior to March 2013 will have no access to affordable health insurance until January 1st. Photo Credit: Ken Teegardin, Images Money, Tax Credits