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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Health Care Reform: New Programs Moving Forward

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010   

RALEIGH, N. C. - North Carolina's high-risk insurance pool is one part of the national health care reform law already up and running. It offers coverage to people who otherwise would have no health insurance available to them.

Nationally, only 3,600 people applied for this type of insurance in July, the plan's first month of operation, although as many as four million may be eligible. Cost is a factor for some, with premiums that range from $600 to $1,000 a month. However, Kris Erickson, a health insurance manager at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, still considers the reform a positive move.

"I think it is a win that is a step forward. I think it may be a baby step, but it is a step."

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has found that women with preexisting conditions are having an especially hard time paying the premiums, since many work part-time or have less money saved than men. Still, Erickson says help is available through a variety of prescription drug plans and other programs.

"We can walk them through their individual needs to make sure that they're getting their medications. So, one way or another, we make sure that a client is getting their needs met."

The temporary high-risk pools are meant to bridge the gap until 2014, when health insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage based on a person's medical history. By law, these plans cannot charge more than the average cost of a premium for healthy people in the state, says Erickson.




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