Missouri is reducing premiums for its new, federally funded health insurance program for people with health problems 25%.
The Missouri Health Insurance Pool will offer the new, lower rates for coverage from the state's Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) program starting Feb. 1.
The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) – the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act – created 
the $5 billion PCIP program to fill in coverage gaps before a nationwide ban on medical underwriting is supposed to take effect in 2014. Congress wants the PCIP program to give individuals with serious health problems guaranteed access to coverage at rates comparable to individual rates in the commercial market.
Some states are letting the federal government run their PCIP programs, and others are running their own risk plans.
The Missouri Health Insurance Pool, a nonprofit entity that has been running a state risk pool for high-risk Missouri residents since 1991, has received an $81 million grant to subsidize the cost of running the new PCIP risk pool.
The Missouri PCIP went into operation Aug. 15, 2010, and had 81 enrollees Nov. 1, 2010, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Denver. The state risk pool has about 4,000 enrollees.
Residents who want to join the federal pool must have been uninsured for at least 6 months.
- Allison Bell
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