| Obama administration could dump sick
people out of ObamaCare high-risk pool posted at 10:55 am on July 2, 2010 by Ed Morrissey Two months ago, Medicare’s actuary warned that the federal high-risk pool would cost much more than the $5 billion Congress allocated to it as part of the ObamaCare bill. The poll was created to keep people with pre-existing conditions insured until mandates required insurers to cover them took effect in 2014. Now the White House admits that the money will run out — and that those patients may not get covered after all: The Obama administration has not ruled out turning sick people away from an insurance program created by the new healthcare law to provide coverage for the uninsured. Critics of the $5 billion high-risk pool program insist it will run out of money before Jan. 1, 2014. That’s when the program sunsets and health plans can no longer discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. Administration officials insist they can make changes to the program to ensure it lasts until 2014, and that it may not have to turn away sick people. Officials said the administration could also consider reducing benefits under the program, or redistributing funds between state pools. But they acknowledged turning some people away was also a possibility. “There’s a certain amount of money authorized in the statute, and we will do our best to make sure that that amount of money insures as many people as possible and does as much good as possible,” said Jay Angoff, director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “I think it’s premature to say [what happens] when it’s gone.” * * * * *
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