N.C. House Panel Advances High Risk Pool Measure

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A bill that would create a special health insurance pool for chronically ill people who aren’t insured or can’t afford coverage is getting another airing in the North Carolina Legislature.

The measure won approval on Tuesday from the House Health Committee, the first of several panels that must approve the bill before it heads to the full chamber. The next stop is the Insurance Committee.

A similar bill died last summer after being introduced late in the session.

Sponsored by Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, the bill would create a pool to allow people with high-risk health conditions to get health insurance at more affordable rates.

The pool would be funded through enrollee premiums and insurer assessments. A federal grant would get the program started and pay for operating costs.

The House passed a similar measure in July, but Senate leaders refused to bring it to the floor. They said it would be irresponsible to try to complete work on such a complicated matter in the dwindling days of the session.

On Tuesday, Insko said she introduced the bill early this year to avoid a similar fate.

“A lot of people hoped this was one of the first bills to go through, to get it out early,” she said.

The new version addresses specific objections to last year’s version, such as setting up a board and executive director to run the plan instead of putting it under the state health plan.

“I think that was really the question at the end of the last session,” Insko said. “There just wasn’t time to examine that one issue very well.”