Page 47 - Risk Pool News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Your reassurances to moderates who [ inaudible ]? >> i think we're making good progress. we're going to go when we have the votes. that's the decision we'll make when we have it. something tells me you'll probably be the first to know when that happens. i would argue that this is a bill that a moderate would more likely want to support. some people were concerned about ehbs. ehbs were taken out of the bill. essential health benefits were taken out of the earlier drafts but they're back in. they're in the federal law. a state would have to find a waiver for essential health benefits. if anythin...

Health insurance. but under this new amendment there can be waveers so insurance companies can charge different premiums to different people. for instance, if you're really sick, you're going to get a high premium and of course if you're really sick you're probably not work being you don't have any money so you kabcan't get insurance. >> that's not the way it works, greta. i would respectfully disagree with your analysis. we have a high-risk pool proposal that we've put in so that everybody in a specific plan would pay the same premium. but if you had a preexisting condition and you were consi...

Risk pools, that people can buy down the cost. you're building to get into one of the pools. in essence, the insurance and the pricing gap that could occur. >> many of these risk pools have been tried in the past and most have been deemed unworkable. do you think we can come up with a better risk pool now? >> they have worked. i would use mainl as an example. so again, all we're saying is let's be more transparent in the process. right now we have with profound health care needs. i've had eight town hall meetings at home. i've heard a whole host of compelling stories that do make sense and hit...

And stateare the ones that are going to ensure and many states like mine have tougher ehbs than what we have at the federal level right now. >> but correct me if i'm wrong, does this not give insurance companies the opportunity to jack up their rates on people with preexisting conditions? because insurance companies -- >> no. >> stakeholders, are their employees and shareholders, not the american people. >> the answer is no. no waiver can be given unless certain goals are met, certain criteria are met, and an invisible high risk pool has to be set up like is working very well in the state of m...

I'm glad to hear that. now, this high risk pool, i've seen numbers 120 to $130 billion. where is that money coming from? >> well, it's coming from the federal government. i've been told a number is $115 billion over ten years, but it's to help, you know, what we're trying to do is get lower premiums to the individual person, more choice through a market approach where different companies compete for your business and the kind of coverage that you actually want. >> all right. i'll go with your number, 115 billion. let me go back to where do we get the money? i mean, we have maybe a government s...