 Image: katietower under CC 3.0 |
Today is the deadline for states to decide whether or not they will participate in one of the initial changes of healthcare reform: they need to tell the federal government if they are planning to create new health insurance pools for high-risk patients with pre-existing conditions.
So far, 18 states have flatly refused. Qualified uninsured people from those states will buy into a national pool, which will open on July 1st. Utah and Texas are still undecided, but they’re running out of time.
The states that will create new temporary pools for high-risk health insurance plans will receive part of a $5 billion grant set aside in the law for that purpose.
