FLORIDA HEALTH INSURANCE

September 23, 2007

S-CHIP COVERAGE

Lawrence’s U.S. House members Dennis Moore and Nancy Boyda, both Democrats, voted for the proposed State Children’s Health Insurance increase and say they will vote to override President Bush’s veto of the bill.

But Nick Jordan, a Republican seeking to unseat Moore in 2008, says if he were in Congress, he would support Bush’s veto.

Moore represents the 3rd Congressional District, which includes East Lawrence.

Meanwhile, the campaign of Republican Jim Ryun, who wants to unseat Boyda, criticized the proposed SCHIP bill. And Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, another Republican who also wants to challenge Boyda, declined to say whether she supported the SCHIP bill or Bush’s veto.

Boyda represents the 2nd Congressional District, which includes west Lawrence.

Congress has approved a $35 billion increase over the next five years to SCHIP, a program that provides low-cost health coverage to 6.6 million children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but earn too little to afford most private insurance policies. The increase would be funded by a 61-cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax. In Kansas, the program provides health care to approximately 35,000 children.

Bush vetoed the proposed increase, saying it was too expensive and would lead to socialized medicine by luring some families from private insurance to government-run insurance.

Ryun’s campaign manager, Kyle Robertson, sided with Bush.

“We need to find a responsible way to fund the program without raising taxes or making it easier for illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded health care,” Robertson said.

But supporters of the bill have denied that the program would go toward illegal immigrants, saying that a provision requiring people to show Social Security cards would prevent that from happening.

Jenkins, who will face Ryun in the Republican primary, declined to answer what she would have done about the bill if she were in Congress.

“I haven’t looked closely at the specific proposals, and unfortunately with everything as partisan as it is in Congress these days, folks can’t work out a compromise,” she said. “It seems to me that a Congress and president concerned about budgets and health care could come to a compromise instead of typical Washington gridlock.”

Both Moore and Boyda have been supporters of the SCHIP bill, which passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support.

Moore said the proposal makes SCHIP “stronger and more efficient.”

Boyda stated: “SCHIP has not only proven successful at covering uninsured children, but it’s cost-effective to taxpayers. Health insurance prevents low-income families from using the emergency room — the most expensive health care resource — as a first-stop clinic.”

Can This Be An End of Pre-Existing Conditions?

Medical insurance policy-holders can now rejoice. Insurance companies are reviewing claims settlement norms in case of preexisting diseases. This means, insurers may soon no longer deprive mediclaim holders for claims under the clause of “non-disclosure of diseases”.

Accordingly, policyholders who never underwent treatment nor showed symptoms of a disease before signing a policy document are likely to get the medical policy benefits in future.

At present, insurance companies often decline to settle insurance claims in case policyholders are diagnosed to have contracted the disease prior to the signing the mediclaim policy.

This is likely to change. The General Insurance Council of India, in consultation with all insurers, is working on the appropriate definition of preexisting diseases.

“Policyholders who did not undergo any diagnosis or treatment or show indications of a disease prior to the signing of a contract should not be considered in the know of having any preexisting disease,” said Mr BD Banerjee, a member of the committee, appointed by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) for examining issues related to health insurance for senior citizens.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of an interactive session on health insurance, organised by Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Saturday. The seven-member committee is likely to submit its report by the first week of November. It is slated to meet in Mumbai from October 9 to 11.

The insurance regulator was formed by the committee in May this year in the wake of a over 200% hike in premium for medical insurance policies after September 2006. The insurers increased the premium for senior citizens defying the regulator’s advice not to hike it more than 70%.

Mr Banerjee felt “most private insurers turn down health policies to people aged above 60. Among the public sector insurers, only Oriental Insurance as of now does not offer health insurance policies to senior citizens. It has, however, applied for a policy for senior citizens to Irda.

Issues relating to health insurance for the elderly need special focus, as they are more vulnerable and fall in a higher risk category.

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