This is not a big pool and you really have to be on your toes to get in here a this is for people who have been turned down and have pre-existing conditions. 7100 enrollees is the maximum so if you are enrollee number 7101, you are out of luck. Even with being accepted, the rates are not cheap and this is the reason Blue Shield was kicked out, rates were too high and not affordable.
In California Blue Cross and Blue Shield operate separately and this does not include Blue Cross only Blue Shield, but with only 80 members were they looking for a way out with providing rates that were 1.5 to 3 times higher than the other insurers? BD
California has ousted Blue Shield, the state's second-largest not-for-profit health plan, from the state's high-risk medical insurance pool because its premiums were too high.
The pool, known as the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, or MRMIP, insures more than 6,700 Californians who have been shut out of the private health insurance market because of pre-existing conditions.
Through MRMIP, such people are able to buy coverage from private insurers at premiums that are supposed to be 25% higher than the market rate for a comparable policy. The state reimburses the insurers for any losses they incur.
Blue Shield is ousted from California's high-risk health insurance pool -- latimes.com