High Risk Pools, a lousy idea...

So, as Congress talks about bringing back high-risk pools, I thought people should see what one looks like.  Here's a link to California's 2010 version...

http://www.health-ins.com/Carriers/MrMIP/2010_MrMIP_Brochure.pdf

Key Highlights:
  $75,000 Annual Max
  $750,000 Lifetime Maximum
  Limited number of spots for potential insureds, with substantial waiting lists

In 2010 in California, normal underwritten policies had no dollar benefit caps, could not be individually repriced because of adverse health events, could not be cancelled except for non-payment and were substantially cheaper.

Politely speaking, high-risk plans were better than nothing, but not by much.  You get seriously ill and they were pretty f'ing worthless. 

My suggestion?  Keep everything in place as-is, and add  Federally funded, taxpayer supported, reinsurance for big ($1M?) claims.  The risk pool idea was tried and failed.