The issue of preexisting medical conditions has long been a subject of debate in the health insurance niche. It has been noticed that insurers tend to avoid selling health insurance to people who have a history of physical or mental illnesses or those with genetic disposition towards developing medical conditions. These folks are regarded as high-risk individuals by insurers who tend to shun them outright or demand extremely high premiums on the pretext that they are undertaking a greater risk offering coverage to such people.
ACA reforms seek to correct this flaw in health care coverage and thus, from now on, insurers can no longer deny health coverage to people with preexisting conditions. This applies to people across the nation irrespective of their age, location and current health condition. This is applicable to health plans that will be sold on the state or private health exchanges.
PCIP or the Preexisting Condition Insurance Plan was created to offer immediate coverage to people who have been denied coverage because of a preexisting condition until the state exchanges take shape. This is because such people continue to suffer in the absence of affordable health insurance and the health exchanges are still a few months away. To bridge this gap, the PCIP was created. This is essentially a state-federal coverage that is offered to folks who have been uninsured for six months or more due to a preexisting condition.
PCIP insurance has a deadline to it and as the exchanges start offering greater coverage, it will be taken back, lasting until the end of 2013. After December 2013, insurance companies too won’t be allowed to reject health insurance applications based upon the presence of preexisting conditions. In its current format, the PCIP plan offers all the essential health benefits, including coverage for prescription drugs. The PCIP coverage amount might vary by state but it is usually much lower than private health marketplace.
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