CBO: ObamaCare High-Risk Pools Underfunded

President Obama Promised More Coverage Under the Democrats’ Healthcare Plan:
“Essentially, my proposal would change three things about the current health care system…No longer would they be able to deny your coverage because of a preexisting condition.  No longer would they be able to drop your coverage because you got sick.  No longer would they be able to force you to pay unlimited amounts of money out of your own pocket.  No longer would they be able to arbitrarily and massively raise premiums like Anthem Blue Cross recently tried to do in California -- up to 39 percent increases in one year in the individual market.  Those practices would end.” (Remarks by the President on Health Care Reform, 3/10/2010)

RED ALERT: Congressional Budget Office Debunks ObamaCare Promise, New Insurance Pools Are Unsustainable:

“’The Obama administration is poised to award contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to about 20 states to run new insurance pools for people with serious medical problems….A new study by the Congressional Budget Office says the money will ‘not be sufficient to cover the costs of all applicants.’ If more than 200,000 people participate, the budget office said, ‘the available funds will probably be exhausted prior to 2013.’ Consumers or states could then be left in the lurch, seeking other sources of coverage. Some governors cited this concern in deciding not to apply for federal money. Richard S. Foster, the chief actuary at the Department of Health and Human Services, said 375,000 people could gain coverage in high-risk pools this year. But he predicted, ‘By 2011 and 2012, the initial $5 billion in federal funding would be exhausted.’” (Robert Pear, “Insurance Pools Readied in Some States,” New York Times, 6/25/2010)