Indiana Health Fund for ‘Uninsurable’ Residents Running $43M Deficit

The Indiana Comprehensive Health Insurance Association, the state's high risk insurance pool for individuals unable to obtain coverage, is running debts "so large HMOs and insurers are struggling to meet a state mandate to pick up the tab," the AP/Evansville Courier & Press reports. ICHIA, a "quasi-public" program that provides health insurance to "non-poor" state residents under age 65 who cannot purchase private insurance because of a pre-existing health problem such as AIDS or cancer, has accrued a $43 million deficit, and the gap could exceed $60 million this year. Under the program, the state's private insurers agree to "divert" the "high-risk population" into the pool and "collectively kick in whatever subsidy is needed to cover costs" based on their market share in Indiana. Insurers and MCOs maintain, however, that the "demands of paying the uncovered portion of the health bill for 7,000 Indiana residents with costly medical problems couldn't come at a worse time," with many facing "low-profit woes" because of the rising costs of health care for members. According to Lee Lange, director of marketing communications for M Plan, an Indianapolis HMO that paid $4.2 million to the risk pool last year, "It's an open checkbook. The industry should not be shouldering this." The state's insurance industry had asked the Indiana Legislature for help, but state lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have "made changes in the risk pool's funding" before adjourning on April 29. As a result, insurers and HMOs must pay "rising assessments" into the pool for at least an additional year, the AP/Courier & Gazette reports (AP/Evansville Courier & Press, 5/7).