Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

FL Gov. Crist Approves Badly Needed Health Insurance, Pt.1 -- Assessment

Governor Crist signed a bill last Wednesday to alleviate , at least, some of the plight of, some of Florida’s most hard-pressed residents who don’ t currently have health insurance.  With some 3.8 million people effected, this bill lowers some of the regulated standards to a “sub-policy” which gives up some of the more expensive requirements mandated in standard health insurance policies. The hope is to provide an affordable “health Insurance substitute” with premiums starting as low as $150 per month. The effectiveness of this measure remains to be seen, based on metrics such as affordability and adequacy of coverage of the greater needs and numbers of those 3.8 million currently uninsured.

Governor Crist was quoted in stating "It is not the Cadillac of health plans, but it offers something very, very important for the citizens of our state."  During his campaign, Crist has committed that “Shrinking the number of people in Florida without health insurance" is one his top priorities. This Florida less-regulated health insurance initiative is called "Cover Florida" and will be open to uninsured people from ages 19-64. Residents outside of that range are considered to be “generally” already covered under government-subsidized programs, such as Medicaid, Medicare and the state's KidCare subsidized insurance programs. One of the eligibility requirements for this new provision of Crist’s is to have been uninsured for at least six months. One of the caveats expressed by critics is that “those plans might not offer enough consumer protections”. The alternate argument is that “plans that don't cover everything are still better than having no health insurance at all”.

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