Health Insurance Resources for Uninsured

By Brian Tumulty

Gannett News Service





America's 45 million uninsured have a new tool for finding health coverage.



The National Association of Health Underwriters has rolled out an Internet site that provides state-by-state information on coverage options for many situations -- including job changers, the poor and high-risk people unable to obtain traditional insurance.



"We get consumer inquiries every day," said Janet Trautwein, vice president of government affairs for the association that created the Internet site.



The site -- www.nahu.org/consumer/healthcare -- is helpful to a computer-savvy consumer who understands insurance terms.



That's especially the case if it's used with other Internet sites, such as www.ehealthinsurance.com, which provides price quotes on individual health insurance policies, and the consumer health insurance information provided by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. That site is www.healthinsuranceinfo.net.



Unfortunately, the typical uninsured person often does not have home access to a computer or the sophistication to understand differences among programs, according to health care professionals.



Even so, several community health professionals and think tank experts agreed the new Web site does have some value.



"Information is always helpful," said Joseph Antos of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.



The Georgetown site -- which has been around since the late 1990s -- does a better job explaining medical terminology than the new offering from the insurance underwriters, according to Linda Blumberg of the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank.



For people with pre-existing health problems, the site lists the 32 states with high-risk pools.



The down side to high-risk pools is that premiums often are very high, most states exclude pre-existing conditions and some states delay enrollment, according to Karen Pollitz, project director for Georgetown's institute.



The new Web site also provides a state-by-state list of health programs for the poor such as Medicaid and the federally subsidized State Children's Health Insurance Program.