Or 2+ years if you want to go on Medicare under SSDI.
According to Fox, the Senate version of health care reform contains this wording.
The six-month wait is in the health care bill the Senate Finance Committee approved last month. To qualify for the pool, patients must be turned down for coverage because of a pre-existing condition and uninsured for at least six months.
Seems like the government is a bit tentative about taking on risk. It can't be a profit motive, so what is it?
Obama proposed the pool in his September health care speech to Congress. Intended to serve the most vulnerable as a temporary fail-safe, it would stay in place until 2013. That's when insurance companies would be banned from denying coverage because of medical problems.
Government subsidies to make coverage more affordable for millions of uninsured would also start that year.
Has anyone bothered to question the reason for delaying major provisions of health insurance reform until 2013? You don't suppose it has anything to do with 2012 being an election year do you? Those running for re-election in 2012 can tell you to hold on, change is coming next year.
Both the House and the Senate Finance bills set aside $5 billion for the pools.
"It doesn't seem like it's near enough money," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was a top domestic policy adviser for McCain. The McCain campaign ultimately concluded it could take as much as $20 billion a year to properly run risk pools, he said.
Of course this is all just a wag.
And when has the government EVER come in under projections? Even Cars for Clunkers exceeded the budgeted amount by a factor of 3. Why is there any reason to believe they are right here?
This reminds me of the new Windows 7 commercials with Mac and PC. You know the one.
So why is Obamacare better than private health insurance?
Trust me.
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