About the New Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan

In March of 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act.  The law created the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) to make health insurance available to people who’ve been denied coverage by private insurance companies because of a pre-existing condition.  Before the Affordable Care Act, Americans with pre-existing conditions who did not receive health coverage through their employers had few affordable options to get the care they needed.  In most states, insurance companies could refuse to sell them coverage, charge higher premiums, or offer them coverage that excluded benefits for their health conditions. 

The PCIP program is temporary and was created to make health coverage available and more affordable to people who qualify.  To be eligible for the program, you must:

• be a U.S. citizen or reside in the U.S. legally;
• have been without health coverage for at least 6 months; and
• have a pre-existing condition, or have been unable to obtain health coverage because of your health condition.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with the help of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Finance Center, runs the PCIP in 23 states and the District of Columbia. The Federal government contracts with a national insurance plan to administer benefits in those states.  In the other 27 states, the state or a state-designated nonprofit organization runs the program. The PCIP program may vary depending on what state you live in.

For more information on PCIP, visit the Learn More page on PCIP.gov.

Posted on: July 29, 2010

Last updated: April 13, 2012