Wisconsin HRP

Wisconsin’s high-risk pool, the Wisconsin Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan [1] (HIRSP) became operational in 1981 and provides a choice of three benefit coverage options.  The pool is financed through policyholder premiums, assessments on insurers, and provider discounts.  Premium subsidies are available for qualified low income policyholders. The premium cap is set at 200 percent of the rate that a standard risk would be charged under a policy providing the same coverage deductible.  At the beginning of 2008, almost 17,000 persons were enrolled in the program.   About 2,800 of them received premium subsidies.