More Affordable Health Insurance
If you or a family member has lupus, you already know how difficult—if not impossible—it can be to get appropriate health insurance coverage because the illness is deemed a “pre-existing condition.”
Taking care of lupus often drains and even destroys family finances.
But thanks to recent measures taken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, that’s about to change.
As of July 1st, many people with a chronic “pre-existing condition” such as lupus who haven’t been able to get insurance coverage for six months or more will:
- find it easier to enroll in federally administered “Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan” (PCIP)
- be eligible for lower premiums
In more than a third of states, the cost to be insured under the plan will plunge 40 percent. In some places, you will no longer have to wait for an insurance company to send you an “insurance denial” letter so that you apply for the special coverage.
Find out more about what you might be eligible for in your state today through this link:
You Helped
“Members of our Lupus Research Institute National Coalition of state and local lupus organizations are very pleased to see that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has taken these important steps to further reduce barriers to affordable health insurance for people with lupus,” said LRI President Margaret Dowd.
“It’s something we’ve fought for on Capitol Hill for several years, and are proud to see enacted on behalf of the 1.5 million Americans with lupus as well as millions of others with chronic illnesses.”
The PCIP program lasts until 2014, when the new Affordable Care Act requires that insurance companies accept all applicants—regardless of their medical history.
About the LRI
The world’s leading private supporter of innovative research in lupus, the LRI champions scientific risk-taking in the hunt for solutions to this complex and dangerous autoimmune disease.
Lupus Research Institute
330 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1701, New York, NY 10001
T: 212.812.9881 F: 212.545.1843
e-mail: Lupus@LupusNY.org