Montana Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA)
The Montana Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA) is a program that offers policies of individual health insurance to eligible Montana residents who are considered uninsurable due to medical conditions. The MCHA also is the coverage available to persons who are leaving group coverage.
The MCHA is sometimes referred to as Montana’s “high-risk” pool. The MCHA provides coverage of “last resort” and is not intended to duplicate coverage from any other source, public or private. The MCHA plans are administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana and currently provide coverage for about 3,600 Montanans.
The MCHA is committed to providing access to quality health insurance coverage for uninsurable Montanans. In fulfilling this vision, the MCHA believes in:
* Quality health insurance plans
* Accessibility for qualifying Montanans
* Effective programs to manage health care claims and expenses
* Collaborative industry involvement
The Montana Legislature created the MCHA in 1985 to establish a program that provides access to health insurance to Montana residents who are otherwise considered uninsurable due to medical conditions. These Montanans are not part of the traditional health insurance market because of preexisting health conditions or significant exclusions of coverage. In general, these people have been rejected for health insurance coverage or offered a policy with a rider on their primary health condition.
In 1997 the Montana Legislature created a second MCHA plan for eligible individuals who have had prior health insurance coverage that meet the federal rules of eligibility as described in the eligibility section. This site contains information about benefits, exclusions, premium rates, eligibility, and application procedures for the MCHA program.
This site also provides information about program changes, publications, and upcoming events that affect the MCHA.
Effective August 1, 2003: If you have lost your job due to foreign trade and are an eligible federal Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) qualifed individual, you may qualify for coverage under the Portability Plan. The federal Trade Adjustment Act of 2002 provided a 65% tax credit for qualified persons to use to purchase health insurance. The MCHA is one of the qualified plans that TAA qualified persons can purchase with the tax credit. Please see the section about the Portability Plan for additional information.
Please note: all brochures, rate cards and applications are loaded as PDF files. You must have Adobe Acrobat to download these documents. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat, you can download it from this website: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/.
Montana Comprehensive Health Association
PO Box 4309
560 North Park Avenue
Helena, MT 59604
Phone: 444-8537
Toll Free: 1-800-447-7828
Fax: 1-406-447-8603
info@mthealth.org
