Fate of pre-existing condition insurance pools, health exchanges may hinge on high court ruling

News outlets report on what might become of programs such as high risk pools and health exchanges if some or all of the health law is overturned by the Supreme Court.

Reuters: Looming Court Ruling Worries Some With Health Woes
PCIP is a temporary government program set up to run until 2014, when the Obama healthcare law is due to take full effect and prevent insurance companies from the common practice of denying people coverage due to pre-existing medical conditions. About 60,000 Americans already are receiving medical coverage through the program, according to the Obama administration. As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule in the next few weeks on whether to overturn the law considered to be Obama's signature domestic policy achievement, [Sam] Lovett said the choice is very clear for him and others unable to get insurance without the statute's provisions. "Without this, you're going to die," Lovett said in an interview arranged by the Consumers Union organization, which supports the law" (Morgan, 6/3). Also, Reuters has a related factbox.

CQ HealthBeat: On Exchanges: What If The Mandate Does Survive The Supreme Court?
Many policy analysts are focused on the impact of a possible U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that finds the individual coverage mandate in the health care law unconstitutional. But what will happen if the high court leaves the mandate unscathed and states are then under the gun to open exchanges by 2014 as the overhaul requires? Two things: more states may be ready to open their own exchanges than doomsayers say. And the coverage that these new marketplaces offer may be very pricey (Reichard, 6/1).

Meanwhile, advisors offer insights regarding how the high court's decision could impact the health industry and federal officials offer more information regarding essential benefits.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Red Granite Adviser Prepped For Health Care Changes
The Supreme Court's decision on health care reform may have far-reaching implications for investors in the industry. Even if the court were to strike down only the individual mandate, that could topple the entire plan, which relies on everyone paying in order to fund the additional patient load, said Jeffrey L. Holmes, partner and research director at Red Granite Advisors, which is part of Ziegler Lotsoff Capital Management LLC … Holmes' study of how such changes might affect these companies has yielded a number of names that are expected to hold up well, no matter what happens (Gallagher, 6/3).

Modern Healthcare: Proposed Rule Outlines Data Needed For Defining Essential Benefits
A proposed HHS rule outlines a data-collection process for determining the minimum scope of many future health insurance plans. The proposed regulation, posted by the Office of the Federal Register, outlines the data HHS officials plan to collect from certain issuers to help define so-called essential health benefits. The 2010 federal healthcare overhaul required all non-grandfathered small-group and individual insurance market plans nationwide to cover a core group of services, known as an essential benefits package, starting in 2014 (Daly, 6/3).

And on student health plans -

The Wall Street Journal: Big Changes In College Health Plans
Some colleges are dropping student health-insurance plans for the coming academic year and others are telling students to expect sharp premium increases because of a provision in the federal health law requiring plans to beef up coverage (Radnofsky, 6/3).