Uninsured with health problems can apply for aid online

CARSON CITY — Applications are available on a federal website to help Nevadans who have been unable to secure medical insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched its Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan on Thursday to subsidize part of the cost of insurance for legal citizens who have been uninsurable because of cancer or other illnesses for at least six months.

Premiums will range from $140 a month to as much as $900, Richard Popper, deputy director of a new insurance office at the federal Health and Human Services department, said Wednesday.

The range is so wide because premiums will be keyed to standard individual health insurance rates in each state, which can differ dramatically because of medical costs and the scope of coverage. Also, older people will pay more.

"There are going to be meaningful premiums that are going to be required to stay in this plan … in the hundreds of dollars," said Popper, with the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.

Estimates on HealthCare.gov show premiums for a 50-year-old in Florida will be $552 to $675 a month; in New York the cost will average from $400 to $600; in Texas it’s $491 to $600, and in Pennsylvania $283 on average.

Despite the cost, consumer advocates are urging uninsured people with health problems to sign up soon, because they cannot be turned away for medical reasons. Family members may be able to help with premiums, which are competitive with rates paid by people who buy their coverage directly from an insurance company.

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan will start taking applications in every state by the end of the month. Coverage will be available as early as Aug. 1.

To qualify for the plan, people must be uninsured for at least six months and have been turned down for coverage by a private insurer because of a medical problem. U.S. citizens and legal residents are eligible.

The new program is part of President Barack Obama’s national health care reform program passed by Congress earlier this year. The pre-existing condition program is expected to help 350,000 Americans who haven’t been able to get insurance.

Gov. Jim Gibbons decided in April that Nevada would not run its own pool to help people with pre-existing conditions. Twenty other states also decided that they would not run pools, leaving it up to the Department of Health and Human Services to assist residents in their states.

The governor said the money the federal government was expected to give Nevada to run its own program under the state’s calculations — $61 million — would cover only 2,900 high-risk patients when state officials predicted 100,000 would qualify.

The federal government said Thursday that 350,000 of the 4 million people uninsured now because of pre-existing conditions will receive insurance assistance through 2013.

While $5 billion was appropriated to the program, critics have complained that is not enough money.

The insurance coverage is intended to remain available until 2014, when core health care overhaul provisions take effect. At that time, insurers will be barred from turning away people in poor health, low- and middle-income households will get subsidized coverage, and most Americans will for the first time be required to carry health insurance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.