Finally, instead of requiring private insurers to sell individual policies to all who apply, we could encourage states to provide risk pools for otherwise uninsurable individuals. Some 29 states already have passed legislation creating high-risk pools that sell health insurance to approximately 100,000 individuals with preexisting conditions. However, state experiences with risk pools are mixed. Some work well, others do not. By contrast, Texas created a high-risk pool but never funded it.
Risk pools are a cost-effective way to solve the problem of the uninsurable population.
One 1989 study found that extending risk pool insurance nationwide would have cost less than one-tenth of one percent of the total national health care bill that year. Some states have trouble finding even the relatively small amount of money risk pools need. For that reason, states should be allowed to use money from a Medicaid block grant to fund their risk pools. In return, the states should be required to provide risk pool coverage to individuals without imposing a preexisting condition exclusion period. Creating Medical Savings Accounts.