The Health Insurance Program (HIP) for Michigan is a new statewide program that will provide high-quality health insurance coverage at affordable rates to uninsured Michigan residents with pre-existing medical conditions.

 

Consumers previously rejected by insurers or forced to wait six months for coverage because they have costly medical conditions are starting to get benefits from HIP Michigan. Michigan’s high-risk pool began offering coverage Oct. 1, and already some patients are booking surgeries, doctor visits and treatments long delayed because they had no way to pay for them.

 

Detailed benefit, enrollment, cost and eligibility information, as well as application forms, are available at www.HIPMichigan.com. Applications are also available by calling HIP Michigan at (877) 459-3113 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST. 

 

HIP Michigan is offered through the temporary federal high-risk pool created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the federal health care reform law passed earlier this year. The program will operate until Dec. 31, 2013, when federal law requires all insurers to accept individuals regardless of pre-existing conditions.