NEW HIGH RISK HEALTH INSURANCE POOL IS UNFAIR! (Unless you can get in.)

While on first read, The Illinois Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (IPXP) that just opened for enrollment sounds like a great plan. It is a health insurance option for people with pre-existing conditions and without medical coverage. Once anyone with a modicum of intelligence reads through it they will see how inherently unfair the plan is. IPXP is part of a national health insurance program that the Federal Government has allotted $5 billion in total to all of the states. First, an option already exists in Illinois for people who cannot get health insurance coverage: ICHIPS (Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan). This plan is administered by BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois and is very, very expensive. Nobody would sign up for ICHIPS if they had any other option. The premiums are paid by the insured person and there is no subsidy. People on limited income could not afford ICHIPS. So one would assume that the new plan, IPXP, would be for people who could not afford ICHIPS. Au contraire! Not only are there are no low income requirements, but the premiums are subsidized by the Federal Government! So essentially, a millionaire could sign up for IPXP if they qualified under the plan’s rules. Second, how large is the subsidy? The Feds are sending Illinois $196 million so the premium payments for the insured parties are reduced. IPXP will be administered on a first come, first serve basis to the first 4,000-6,000 people who qualify. To qualify one must be uninsured for six months, have a pre-existing condition, be a U.S. citizen or legal resident, and not be able to obtain insurance from another source. Since the plan will only exist until January 1, 2014, when the new national health care legislation kicks in, that means that IPXP will run for approximately 36 months. Even if the maximum number of people enroll and we divide the $196 million Federal contribution by 6,000 we arrive at a $32,666 subsidy per person per year or $971/month- TAX FREE!! How is that fair? Third, the number of people who can enroll in the plan is being limited in size because of funding restrictions. Well, wouldn’t it be better if 12,000 people could receive health insurance and only be subsidized at $18,333 apiece? And if this is a subsidized program how come there are not any income limits? Since it is estimated that 1.7 million people in Illinois do not have health insurance, is it reasonable to only help four to six thousand? Fourth, I qualify under all the required conditions except that I already have ICHIPS. So I am essentially being denied a subsidy because I have been a good citizen and had health insurance rather than relying on Cook County hospital or the like. Fifth, the subsidized IPXP is also a better plan than ICHIPS because it has only a $2,000 deductible before coverage kicks in. I have a $5,000 deductible with no subsidy! The table below is from the web site for IXIP (http://insurance.illinois.gov/IPXP/) and explains why there is a difference in the premiums for the two plans. Illinois Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (IPXP) PREMIUM RATE TABLE INSTRUCTIONS This Rate Table Booklet contains all rate tables applicable to enrollees in the IPXP. Information and premium rates contained herein are established pursuant to applicable federal law and may be changed. The following premium rates for the IPXP were calculated in compliance with Federal requirements, including: --Premium rates for the IPXP must not exceed 100% of the standard risk rate in Illinois. This means that the premiums charged by the IPXP must be equal to or less than those charged for similar coverage in Illinois. --Premium rates for the IPXP may vary on the basis of age by a factor of not more than 4:1. As a result, the oldest enrollees in the IPXP may be charged no more than 4 times what the youngest enrollees are charged. --Male and female enrollees in the IPXP must be charged the same rate. --IPXP premiums may vary based on location within Illinois. -- IPXP premiums may vary based on an enrollee’s use of tobacco, but tobacco users may not be charged more than twice the premium for non-tobacco users. These requirements differ from the state laws which regulate the calculation of ICHIP premiums in the following ways: --ICHIP premiums, by state law, may not be less than 125% of the standard risk rate in Illinois. This means that ICHIP enrollees, by law, must pay at least 25% more than the charge for similar coverage in Illinois. --ICHIP must, by state law, set different premiums for men and women. -- ICHIP must, by state law, vary the premiums charged based on the age of the enrollee. Due to these differences between the Federal law which establishes guidelines for the IPXP program, and the Illinois law which establishes guidelines for the ICHIP program, ICHIP premiums may be higher than IPXP premiums. Sixth, the last line of the chart reads, “ICHIP premiums may be higher than IPXP premiums.’ When I checked on the site for rates, my ICHIPS premium is TWICE as much as it would be under IPXP. So it may not be higher, it is much higher! In conclusion I wonder who were the stupid federal legislators who concocted a health insurance premium subsidy plan that did not include an income requirement? They had about the same level of intelligence as Mark Fowler Chairman of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) from 1981 -1987, who once said, "If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record." I pay for my own health insurance, so hopefully I won’t wake up dead!