Amador County – A new law ensures affordable health insurance coverage for children, regardless of pre-existing conditions, and enrollment is now open.

Assemblywoman Alyson Huber in a release Wednesday said she “wants to make sure parents know about a critical open enrollment period occurring right now for children with pre-existing conditions that ends on March 1.” During the open enrollment period, parents can sign up for more affordable health insurance for their children.

She said: “As a result of the federal health care reform,” children “with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage – they also cannot be charged rates that are more than double the rates of healthy kids.”

Huber said “parents of healthy children without insurance should also sign their kids up,” otherwise they may be subject to a 20 percent surcharge on their insurance rates for a full year.

She said: “Allowing children with pre-existing conditions to get health coverage is a positive change in our health care system.”

Huber said: “The law allows kids to receive the health care they need, at a price their parents can afford,” and “if parents don’t act by March 1, coverage for their kids could be significantly more expensive.”

Last year, California Assembly Bill 2244 was passed and signed into law to implement this component of federal health care reform in California, Huber said. The new law has been in effect since Jan. 1, and it “gives California children access to affordable care by ensuring that certain children cannot be denied coverage or priced out of the market. It also prohibits insurers that sell individual market policies in California from refusing to sell or renew coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.”

Parents should be aware of a number of important educational resources on how to obtain health coverage for children during and after the open enrollment period. Parents are encouraged to check the website of the California Department of Insurance to find fact sheets on how to insure their children.

For info, call CDI at 1-800-927-HELP or the state health insurance hotline at 1-888-466-2219.

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