If you are in the maket to participate in High Risk Insurance Pools, you may have just gotten a price break.  The WSJ HealthBlog carried a story yesterday on how usage of the pools is far below what was originally forecasted, and the federal government will decrease the premium cost in states where they control the program.  23 states' programs are run by the Dept of HSS, while some states control the operation of their own high risk pools.  This map will tell you what the situation is in your locale.

The high risk pools are intended to provide health insurance for the chronically ill -- those with preexisting conditions that limit their access to regular insurance plans.  In 2014, Health Reform laws will mandate that the insurance companies can no longer turn people away for preexisting conditions, so the risk pools are intended to be a temporary patch for those who can't wait until 2014 for coverage.

Tags: high risk insurance poools | ppaca | health reform | department of health and human serv | preexisting condition | chronic condition insurance

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We've summarized all of the consumer-facing health reform changes for 2011 in our own summary, but Smart Money did a good job of recapping key tax-specific changes that consumers can expect in 2011.  Among others, changes in FSA and HSA limits, as well as increased visiblity of health care costs on W2s.

Tags: health reform | tax | health care | 2011

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