Free Republic

States have until Friday -- May 10 -- to decide whether they want to keep their state-run Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) programs running or kill the programs and put the enrollees in the hands of the federal PCIP system. Officials at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), the agency that oversees both the state and the federal PCIP programs, talk about the changes in a new PCIP state contract fact sheet. CCIIO -- pronounced "Sih-Sigh-Oh" -- is an arm of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which is, in turn, an arm of the...

The federal goverment is eliminating the $100 commission program aimed at brokers who assist consumers enrolling in the federal Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP).pcip broker GEHA, the insurer administering PCIP for the federal government notified brokers about the change last week via email: "We are writing to thank you for the extraordinary efforts you have made in helping to increase awareness of and enrollment in the PCIP program. We have determined that our outreach efforts have succeeded in significantly raising awareness of PCIP and enrollment in this program. As such, CMS will end the PCIP Broker Referral Payment Program in...