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But as the pools draw new attention in Washington, those who managed and used the Maryland program say the state's experience shows the pros and cons of the approach. A high-risk pool amounts to a separate insurance system for the sickest patients. Maryland's program, which received praise from members of both political parties, will likely inform the debate over the future of health insurance as the GOP's Obamacare repeal effort moves to the Senate. (Cohn and Fritze, 5/6)

People enrolled in the pool [former insurance commissioner Marcy] Morrison oversaw, which was called CoverColorado, paid premiums that were as much as 50 percent higher than market average. Taken together, though, those premiums were only enough to pay for about half of CoverColorado’s expenses. Contributions from the state’s unclaimed property fund and charges passed on to every other health insurance customer in the state made up the rest. To keep costs down, CoverColorado imposed a $1 million lifetime benefit cap on enrollees and made people wait several months after joining before the plan would pay for expenses relating to a pre-existing condition. And Morrison said the plan still couldn’t accommodate everybody who wanted to join. (Ingold, 5/5)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) mocked House Republicans’ ObamaCare repeal bill, saying its plan to establish high-risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions is “ridiculous.” “The business of these [high]-risk pools, they are not funded,  $8 billion dollars is not enough to fund,” Kasich said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sunday morning, laughing. “It’s ridiculous.” (Carter, 5/7)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday knocked the Republican health care bill as inadequate, arguing the just-passed House measure would leave many Medicaid patients and those with pre-existing conditions wanting. "In the area of Medicaid, they are going to eliminate Medicaid expansion," Kasich said on CNN's “State of the Union." "And I cover in Ohio 700,000 people now, a third of whom have mental illness, drug addiction, and a quarter of whom have chronic disease." (Gee, 5/7)