Texas officials from both parties want to extend high-risk insurance pool
Following the tumultuous rollout of the federally run health insurance marketplaces, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Monday asked Texas’ insurance commissioner to delay the termination of the state’s high-risk pool.
Dewhurst said in a letter to Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber that health care for some Texans “is now threatened by Obamacare mandates” and that the failure of the federal law overhauling health insurance in the U.S. “has left far too many vulnerable citizens with no clear path to coverage.”
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The Texas Health Insurance Pool, which is slated to go away Jan. 1, was created by the Legislature to give coverage to Texans who were locked out of conventional health plans due to pre-existing conditions. The 23,000 people who enrolled in plans through the pool were supposed to be able to enroll in policies offered on the federally run marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act.
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By Monday evening, Rathgeber had not made a final decision on Dewhurst’s request. The commissioner must sign off on any plan to terminate the high-risk pool, according to a bill passed last legislative session.
The complete article is at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/texas-officials-from-both-parties-want-to-extend-h/nbxN4/ (subscription required).
[font color=green]About 3,000 people in Texas have been enrolled through the federal government Website. Rep. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) also asked the insurance commissioner to extend the risk pool. However, Rep. Garnett Coleman (D-Houston) accused Dewhurst of playing politics and pointed out that the cost of insurance via the high-risk pool is twice as expensive as it is in the marketplace under the ACA.[/font]
