Raleigh -— NC House Representative Michael H. Wray voted Tuesday for legislation that would extend health care coverage to thousands of “high-risk” people who have otherwise been denied coverage or asked to pay premiums they cannot afford.
“The more people we can bring into our insurance system, the healthier we will be as a state and a nation,” Representative Wray said. “This bill gives those people with serious health problems an affordable insurance option and will hopefully result in more people seeking preventative care. If that happens, it will help them avoid more serious problems down the road and reduce health care costs for us all.”
The bill passed its final reading in the House by a vote of 104-11, with all House Democrats voting in favor of it. The measure, a part of the Democratic caucus agenda this session, now goes to the Senate, where the chamber’s Democratic leaders say they will support its passage. Thirty-six states already have similar pools.
Under the bill, people enrolling in the high-risk pool would pay about two-thirds of the program’s costs through their premiums. The remaining cost would be covered by cost reductions negotiated with medical providers and by a monthly assessment on all health care insurers in the state. The projected assessment would be 4 cents per enrolled member per month in 2009 and 92 cents per month per enrolled member in 2019.
An estimated 13,000 people are expected to enroll in the pool.
“Providing affordable health care insurance for people with chronic or acute health care conditions is one of the biggest challenges faced by our state,” said Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, one of the primary sponsors of the bill. “These people require an inordinate amount of health care that they often cannot afford and the rest of us already pay for their care through higher insurance and medical costs. This funding plan provides a predictable and accountable way to make sure they get the care they need.”
The bill is supported by the state’s largest insurers, who believe it is an important step to expanding health care coverage to the estimated 1.6 million uninsured people in North Carolina. The North Carolina Justice Center, which also supports the bill, estimates that every insured person in the state already pays $438 a year in extra premium costs to cover health care for the state’s uninsured.