Health Affairs

Posting date: October 23, 2002

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Health Affairs, 10.1377/hlthaff.w2.345
Copyright © 2003 by Project HOPE

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Perspective: Using Tax Credits And State High-Risk Pools To Expand Health Insurance Coverage

Bruce Abbe ^1*

¹ Bruce Abbe is vice-president of public affairs for Communicating for Agriculture and the Self-Employed, a national nonprofit membership organization long involved in rural health care access issues. Abbe also serves on the board of directors of the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans, which is made up of all of the state high-risk health insurance pools.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

There are practical proposals now on the public policy table to reduce the number of Americans without health coverage. While they won't make health care free or eliminate the forty million uninsured persons, they would help millions of Americans acquire or improve their health insurance. Practical strategies can also be taken to address access issues for unhealthy persons in the nongroup market through federal assistance to states to establish and improve state high-risk health insurance pools, as well as to make health insurance more affordable for low-income Americans.

Key Words: Insurance Coverage, Access To Care, State/Local Issues, Chronic Care, Health Reform

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