But if a person has willfully let a health insurance policy lapse, the new protection would not apply. This approach not only would protect people who switch jobs, it also would encourage them to remain continuously covered. Encourage state-based high risk pools. To join a risk pool, individuals must prove they have been rejected by at least one of the state's insurers. In most states, the premium for risk pool insurance is from 25 to 50 percent higher than for comparable policies a healthy person can buy.
Some states can require people to pay more if the program's losses warrant it.
The amount of money needed to fully fund state risk pools is almost trivial in the context of a one trillion dollar health care system. One study found that extending risk pool insurance nationwide would cost less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the nation's annual health care bill. We live in a society in which many people change jobs frequently. The lack of portable health insurance hinders that mobility. While these four proposals do not make health insurance truly portable, they do provide a politically acceptable means for helping people retain their health insurance coverage during job transitions.