Participants in the federal high-risk pool created in the health law will have another month to find coverage, the Obama administration announced Friday.
In posted on the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan website, officials announced that program enrollees who have not yet purchased coverage through the health law鈥檚 online marketplaces, or exchanges, could keep their current coverage until April 30 while they continue their search.聽But they must enroll in a new plan by April 15 to avoid any gaps in coverage.
This is the third extension for the program, known as PCIP,聽which was previously set to close Dec. 31, 2013. Existing funds will be used to cover the extension.
PCIP, which started in 2010, has helped people with pre-existing conditions obtain health coverage. These consumers in the past were often turned away by commercial insurers. Under health law rules that went into effect Jan. 1, insurers can no longer deny coverage based on an individual’s medical record.
Federal officials also said that聽the remaining seven states still running their own聽PCIP programs have the option to extend the deadline for a month.
In an email, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said the extension was done聽鈥渁s part of our continuing effort to help smooth consumers鈥 transition into Marketplace coverage.”
The extension was one of several changes the administration has made聽as it nears the end of the March 31聽enrollment period.聽Other adjustments聽include announced earlier this month that would give some consumers additional time to stay in plans that do not comply with the health law鈥檚 coverage requirements and would extend the open enrollment period for 2015 to give all consumers more time to consider plans then.
According to HHS, about 20,000 people are enrolled currently in federal and state high-risk pools聽run under PCIP. Since its beginning, the聽program has served more than 135,000 people.
Patient groups cheered the move. 鈥淲e鈥檙e pleased cancer patients and survivors with health coverage through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan can keep it for another month, so they can avoid a gap in coverage,鈥 the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said in a statement. 鈥淲e encourage patients聽in PCIP to look at other insurance options, including the health insurance marketplace at healthcare.gov, as soon as possible so they are assured of coverage beyond the short term.鈥
In late 聽December, federal officials announced that they would extend the program — scheduled to close at the end of 2013 — until the end of January to give people more time to enroll in health plans through state and federal insurance enrollment websites, many of which had been riddled with problems. In mid-January they announced a two-month extension until March 31.
