Health Insurance 

Coverage Lifeline: Help for people with pre-existing conditions

Partner: 
Contra Costa Times
Summary: 

There is hope at last for tens of thousands of Californians unable to get health coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The state is establishing a new high-risk pool with more than $750 million in federal money to widen coverage. The new program is a bridge to 2014, when denials of coverage based on pre-existing conditions will be banned.

Impact Summary: 

There is hope at last for tens of thousands of Californians unable to get health coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The state is establishing a new high-risk pool with more than $750 million in federal money to widen coverage. The new program is a bridge to 2014, when denials of coverage based on pre-existing conditions will be banned.

Results
Help for people with pre-existing conditions
Emily Bazar and Sandy Kleffman | June 11, 2010
It makes her nervous, but Rose Beletz has gone without health insurance for 12 years. Insurers either reject her outright or quote premiums far above her financial reach. Doctors diagnosed the Walnut Creek woman with Type 1 diabetes at age 6. "We don't insure diabetics," one insurance representative told her husband before hanging up on him. "We just gave up on it," said Beletz, 62. "You just go into your savings. Once your savings are gone, you're in trouble. You just try to stay healthy."
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Family: Together they persevere
Sandy Kleffman | June 11, 2010
HAYWARD — With his finger bleeding profusely, Chris Underwood tried to avoid seeking medical care. Chris and Tiffani Underwood talk about the troubles they have had getting health insurance in their Hayward, Calif., home on Monday, May 24, 2010. They both have pre-existing health conditions. Chris has asthma and Tiffani has an irregular heartbeat and enlarged heart. (Jim Stevens/Staff) The uninsured husband and father, who cut himself while washing dishes last month, pays out of pocket for all of his medical expenses. He knew seeing a doctor would be costly.
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Diabetes prevents Walnut Creek woman from obtaining insurance
Sandy Kleffman | June 11, 2010
WALNUT CREEK — As she grows older, being uninsured has begun to weigh on Rose Beletz. Rose Beletz, photographed at her home in Walnut Creek, Calif., talks about her Type 1 diabetes and how she uses this penlike tool to monitor her diabetes on Monday, May 10, 2010. Beletz is among thousands of Californians who are unable to buy health insurance because of a medical condition. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Staff)
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San Francisco man with HIV worries about getting sick or hurt
Emily Bazar, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | June 11, 2010
Jason Villalobos was cycling in San Francisco's Financial district last summer when one of his tires got stuck in the streetcar tracks, sending him flying.
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Results
Health care reform here and now: First up, the kids
Emily Bazar, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | June 12, 2010
At 15, Miranda Ashland is chatty and outgoing, loves to ride horses, write fantasy fiction about dragons and prophecies, and sing in school musicals. The Saratoga teen also may be among the first Californians helped by the health care overhaul that will guarantee children access to insurance coverage.
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Results
2014 will be year of big health care industry changes
Emily Bazar, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | June 12, 2010
Californians who have medical problems but no insurance will get help from the federal health care overhaul this year, but the big changes debut in 2014. Then, insurers no longer will be able to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. They won't be able to charge them higher premiums, either. "In 2014, discrimination based on pre-existing conditions will be banned," said Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services secretary. This fundamental shift in the insurance market should have happened long ago, said Paul Newacheck, professor of health policy and pediatrics at UC San Francisco.
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Results
Impact of "Coverage Lifeline"
Staff | October 26, 2010
“Coverage Lifeline" was published June 11 and 12, 2010, in the Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune and other newspapers in MediaNews’ Bay Area News Group.  This two-day project analyzed two of the first significant aspects of health reform to go into effect: $5 billion to subsidize insurance coverage for those with pre-existing medical conditions and coverage for children with pre-existing conditions.
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