All 50 states had to decide by April 30 whether they would run their own high-risk health insurance pools or have the government run them.  Florida has opted out of running their own high-risk pools, according to “Crist wants federal government to run high-risk health insurance pool,” by Fred Tasker of The Miami Herald. The Obama administration’s health care reform created these high-risk pools to compare health insurance options for those who cannot get insurance in the private market.  Americans with preexisting conditions such as cancer or diabetes will now be able to obtain health insurance from these high-risk pools, whether run by individual states or the federal government.

The Department of Health and Human Services will be in charge of all of the government run programs.  With 29 states opting to run their own high-risk health insurance pools, they’ll use a one-time government subsidy to help establish the programs.  Although Florida will receive $5 million of the total $351 million subsidy, Governor Crist says that he cannot commit any of Florida’s own resources to run this temporary high-risk pool.  Companies like Aultcare health insurance will work hard with their individual consumers to offer health insurance to everyone they can.  Those who still don’t qualify can look to the government pools.  Of course, politics seems to be working its way into which states opt to run their own programs and which do not.  Regardless of what the states decided, more Americans with preexisting conditions will be able to obtain health coverage.

Recent abortion and Medicare disputes in Congress have people wondering what will happen during Sunday’s health care reform vote.  According to The New York Times article “Democrats Woo Abortion Foes in Push for Health Bill” by David Herszenhorn and Robert Pear, Democrats seem to be scrambling to get enough votes to pass this historic health care reform.  If you compare health insurance reform ideas from past Presidents, President Obama says that all of them were trying to fix this broken system.  The Democrats in opposition of abortion support the bill with inclusions banning federal government money from covering the cost of abortions.

There is also a dispute over the rates of Medicare payments between legislators in different states.  The original proposal in the bill was taken out to make it more desirable to opposing legislators, but some Democrats want the wording put back.  Representatives from states like Oregon disagree with other states getting much higher percentages of Medicare reimbursement.  They argued that procedures don’t cost three times as much in Miami as they do somewhere like Portland.  Many Americans and Republicans worry that the health care reform on the table will put smaller insurance companies like Aultcare health insurance out of business as they can no longer afford to operate.  Political lines have been drawn over the $940 billion health care bill and it remains to be seen whether the bill will pass and if so, what the outcome will be.

An Internal Revenue Service program seeks to help laid-off workers pay for health insurance, according to the Columbus Dispatch article “Laid-off workers get IRS help on health insurance,” by Suzanne Hoholik.  While the IRS program has been around since 2002, it doesn’t seem to be well-known among those laid-off workers who are paying out of pocket for their health care.  They should compare health insurance to get the best plan possible so that the IRS’s 80% coverage goes even further.  With close to 11% of Ohioans unemployed, the IRS is trying to spread the word about this program throughout the hard hit state.

To qualify for IRS health care assistance, you have to have lost your job to foreign outsourcing or to a foreign company.  Jobs that are included in this “trade-affected” program are auto workers and others who worked in the plants, and call center workers.  You also qualify if you are between the ages of 55 and 65 and are receiving a pension from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation because of the failure of your company’s pension.  Ohio workers can look for a good insurance plan from a company like Aultcare health insurance in Stark County, then get the IRS to pay for 80% of the premium for a period of time.  If you have been laid-off and meet the qualifications for this plan, your monthly expenses could be significantly reduced.