Governor Edward G. Rendell has announced that Pennsylvania has applied to manage the state’s high risk health insurance pool that will be established under the federal health care reform law recently signed by President Obama. The program will help uninsured Pennsylvanians who have pre-existing conditions that have kept them from securing affordable coverage elsewhere.

“Like many other states, we have decided to operate a special program to provide coverage for people who cannot buy affordable health insurance because of their pre-existing medical conditions,” Governor Rendell said. “This program will be an important complement to our adultBasic program. Once approved, it will give a limited number of adults who are sick and need health care, but have been denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, the peace of mind they deserve by allowing them to buy the health care coverage they need.”

The Governor said his administration is developing the plan and will work with the federal Department of Health and Human Services and the Pennsylvania General Assembly to successfully implement the new program.

The program is expected to provide Pennsylvania access to more than $160 million of federal funds to offer coverage and care to high-risk Pennsylvanians until the new insurance exchanges called for in the reform law open in 2014.

The establishment of this new program is the first of many changes that will take place over the next few years to create a bridge from the current health insurance system to a reformed insurance market.

For more information on the federal reform implementation in Pennsylvania, visit www.insurance.pa.gov and click on “Health Care Reform & You.”