Other states have begun accepting applications for new federally funded high-risk health insurance pools, but Pennsylvania's Insurance Department is still working out the details of the program and has yet to announce the selection of a contractor that will operate the plan.

That means the state is behind its own timetable for having the coverage pool up and running. The plan is meant to provide coverage for uninsured Pennsylvanians with preexisting health conditions who are unable to secure or afford coverage on the open market.

The state is receiving $160 million in federal money, and possibly more in the future, to set up a plan that will provide high-risk health coverage for as many as 5,600 Pennsylvanians between now and 2014.

The program is the first major provision of the health care reform law to take effect. The law was signed by President Barack Obama in March, and most of the major provisions -- such as one that says insurers must offer policies to all applicants, regardless of medical history -- won't take effect until 2014.

Until then, the $5 billion federal high-risk insurance pool will serve as a bridge for some of those -- perhaps up to 350,000 people -- who want insurance, but can't get it because of their health.

In paperwork submitted to the federal government, the Insurance Department said it had hoped to award a contract to a bidder by July 5 and begin taking applications and phone calls on July 12. By Aug. 1, the selected contractor was to have enrolled the first wave of applicants and have begun collecting premiums.

But as of last week, the Insurance Department said that timetable would be pushed back by about a month. The department now hopes to have a benefits administrator in place in the next two weeks, and hopes to get beneficiaries enrolled, and covered, by September.

"Even though the feds approved our proposal, the contract had to be approved by the [state] attorney general's office," said Melissa Fox, spokeswoman for the Insurance Department. That signature of approval was received last week, Ms. Fox said.

"This is a very complex contract ... they were doing their due diligence on it."

To qualify for the high-risk pool policies, applicants must be uninsured for at least six months and must show they have a pre-existing health condition. Those eligible for Medicare or Medicaid aren't eligible for the new state program.

For in-network treatment, subscribers would pay $25 for an office visit co-pay, $30 to see a specialist and would have a $1,000 annual deductible for ER visits, newborn care, surgery, radiology and other hospital treatments. After the deductible is met, the plan covers patients at an 80 percent rate, to an out-of-pocket maximum of $5,000 annually.

The standard monthly premium for an individual would be $283 a month.

The state application also says "elective abortions are not covered." In mid-July, anti-abortion groups took that to mean certain abortions -- or abortions deemed medically necessary for the "well-being" of the mother, even if the pregnancy isn't life-threatening -- could, in fact, be covered and effectively would be paid for with federal taxpayer money.

"This is the boldest admission yet from the Obama administration that the president's executive order on taxpayer-funded abortion was a sham," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement earlier this month. "The fact that the high-risk pool insurance program in Pennsylvania will use federal taxpayer dollars to fund abortions is unconscionable."

But the federal Department of Health and Human Services said all high-risk pools -- be they state-operated or federally run -- will follow the same rules, covering abortions only in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger.

Ms. Fox said Pennsylvania never had any intention of providing coverage for elective abortions. "Unfortunately, a bigger deal was made than should have been," she said.

Pennsylvania is one of 29 states that decided to oversee the operation of their own high-risk pools. The other 21 elected to defer to the federal government, and some did so out of fear that the money allocated wouldn't be enough, sticking the states with the rest of the bill until 2014.

Thirty-five states already operated similar, state-funded high-risk pools, but Pennsylvania wasn't one of them.

"Money Q&A" and "Company Town" are featured exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.