Enzi Health Insurance Bill Would Help More Wyoming Residents get Coverage

Enzi Health Insurance Bill Would Help More Wyoming Residents get Coverage

The President is expected to sign a bill soon that will help Wyoming help more of its residents get access to health insurance, according to U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.

Enzi is chairman of the Senate Health Committee and helped push through the "High Risk Pool Funding Extension Act of 2005," H.R. 4519. Enzi's committee and the Senate passed the bill last year. The House passed it today and it has been sent to the President for his signature. The bill would provide seed money and operational funding to support state-based programs to maintain health insurance pools for high-risk individuals who, because of their health problems, cannot find coverage in the private insurance market.

"‘Pre-existing condition' is a horrible phrase. Where do you turn when you can't get insurance? This bill gives people access to affordable health insurance they otherwise could not get. It provides hope and by adjusting the way funds are distributed that hope will be extended to more Wyoming people and the people of other rural states," Enzi said.

In 2004 650 people were enrolled in the Wyoming Health Insurance Pool (WHIP). Last year WHIP received about $357,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Enzi expects that figure to increase this year because of the bill.

Wyoming would benefit directly from the bill due to funding formula changes that assure smaller states get a larger share of distributed funds. The bill would also increase authorization for grants to existing risk pool programs from $40 million to $75 million per year through 2010. The bill would also create greater flexibility for the kind of state risk programs that can qualify for funds and allow more flexibility once those funds are allocated.

"This bill will extend and improve a program that has helped thousands of medically vulnerable Americans maintain lifesaving health coverage and avoid potentially devastating financial ruin," Enzi said. "It will also help keep these individuals out of costly and financially beleaguered Medicaid programs."

State high risk pools are state-created and funded initiatives designed to stabilize the state health insurance market and help a segment of the population that would otherwise be uninsured or on public assistance programs. They are established to provide access to health insurance for persons who are not covered under an employer plan or a government program and whose medical profile makes it very difficult or impossible for them to find coverage in the individual insurance market, according to Enzi.

"This proves that there are areas where we can find bipartisan agreement on healthcare, and I look forward to continuing forward in this spirit in 2006," Enzi said.

http://enzi.senate.gov/insurancepools.htm