Colorado's new ‘wait until you need it’ health-insurance pool

Colorado will receive $90 million in federal money to subsidize health insurance for up to 4,000 people rejected by private insurers because of pre-existing medical conditions, Gov. Bill Ritter announced Tuesday.

The new high-risk pool, a public-private partnership the state is calling GettingUsCovered, will charge the same rate for health coverage that the average, healthy Coloradan pays.

That's the major distinction between it and Colorado's existing high-risk pool, CoverColorado, which insures about 12,000 people who have serious illnesses — or even minor medical problems, such as a teen taking acne medication — that prevented them from buying coverage elsewhere.   – More -