I Got A Cancellation Letter

I got a cancellation letter. I got it a month ago. So I guess that makes me one of the millions who got the cancellation letter for a plan they were satisfied with.

The thing is, I have Federal HIRSP. HIRSP is a high risk insurance pooling plan that was designed to bridge people with pre-existing conditions until they could get insurance off the exchanges. You may recall mention of these plans because the money ran out and they stopped taking new applicants last spring. The GOP passed a bill to fund the plans using another PPACA fund for preventative medicine. That issue was never resolved, I believe, and so anyone needing HIRSP from last spring to Dec 31 have few options.

Anyway, HIRSP will end on Dec 31, 2013. I was aware that it would not last forever. So the cancellation letter was not at all surprising or disturbing. I'm sure there others in the same situation as me--they got a cancellation letter and they weren't surprised or disturbed. And it's not like we won't miss HIRSP. HIRSP was excellent insurance, especially for someone in their early 40's when the premiums are still low even though it's a high risk group.

However, as good as HIRSP was, it was also Wisconsin insurance. That means, I can't just pick up and leave for another state with more and better jobs in my area of embedded systems engineering. I am now tied to the medical system and I need to be able to buy insurance. One of the requirements of HIRSP and programs like it is that you have to have been uninsured for 6 months, so switching states without a job already lined up is very difficult and/or risky. So, while I'll miss HIRSP, I'm happy that I can move to a state and get coverage in as little as 2 weeks.