patrick.net

The first order of business is to note that the FEDERAL version PCIP is **suspended* for new applicants as of YESTERDAY, per the following statement that pops up on

https://www.pcip.gov/#StateInformation

Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan - Notification

Starting next year, the Affordable Care Act guarantees that all Americans – regardless of their health status or pre-existing conditions – will finally have access to quality, affordable coverage. People will be able to apply for affordable health insurance coverage choices in Health Insurance Marketplaces when open enrollment begins on October 1. The Health Insurance Marketplace will offer a choice of quality, affordable health plans. Coverage begins on January 1, 2014. Visit www.healthcare.gov to learn more about the Marketplace.

Next, we need to find out whether California is still in the PCIP game until March 2, and whether MRMIP is affected as well.

On the following site, the cost pdf and application pdf are dead links, at least for me at the moment.

http://www.pcip.ca.gov/PCIP_Program/PCIP_MRMIP_Comparison.aspx

That may be a bad sign.

Let's talk pricing: PCIP in California was cheaper than MRMIP. MRMIP uses commercial heath plans, but with special pricing. The following is California MRMIP pricing as of 2013-0101:

http://www.pcip.ca.gov/Publications/MRMIP_Premium_Rates_2013.pdf

KPNC = Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Area 3 PC HB ER EN 11/15/2012
Counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara
Below are available health plans listed by service area and ZIP codes. Some health plans may not be available in your area.

Subscriber Only
Rating Group Age Anthem CC KPNC
under 15 $366.78 $232.46 $268.44
15-29 $493.14 $295.64 $317.43
30-34 $680.68 $418.99 $375.09
35-39 $775.88 $418.99 $402.77
40-44 $764.26 $477.96 $451.95
45-49 $732.97 $477.96 $496.57
50-54 $934.40 $636.25 $573.42
55-59 $1,123.20 $636.25 $656.42
60-64 $1,416.80 $822.46 $727.13
65-69 $1,587.20 $1,080.10 $1,268.58
70-74 $1,672.00 $1,080.10 $1,339.22
over 74 $1,771.20 $1,080.10 $1,420.82

I apologize for the bad formatting, but at least you can see the numbers. The Kaiser prices are not that bad compared to others I have seen. Prices are less than Kaiser's OWN individual plans. Anthem Blue Cross plans are atrociously expensive, no surprise there. I think all the plans are HMO type plans, and the Kaiser plan looks like a 20/2500 HMO plan.

Note: I tried to use http://www.textfixer.com/html/csv-convert-table.php to make a nice html table, but wordpress (is that what you use, Patrick?) did not understand the result.

Chirp...chirp...chirp (that is the sound if the crickets chirping in the otherwise silent California evening, as heard in many Hollywood movies and TV programs).

I borrowed that one from leo707, I think.

OK, I applied for and was accepted on February 1st for PCIP through the State of Washington.

Yes, it was running out of funding at the time.

The greatest applicant pool was people with cancer who were referred to the program by hospitals already burdened by catastrophic care payments to patients they were treating.

The program will need more funding to get through the year, and possibly beyond.

My thought was that this was a benefit to hospitals who were already over burdened.

I think this is a better use on my tax payer dollars, than bailing out banks.

Congratulations. Would you mind posting the cost as a function of age ( a table like the one above )?