Time is running out for hundreds of Great Northern Paper Inc. retirees and displaced Great Northern Paper workers, who will lose their interim health care insurance next week.

Diane Khiel, an Orono attorney representing members of the Katahdin Area Retirees Association, is urging people to replace health insurance as soon as possible to make sure pre-existing health conditions are covered and to ensure people are eligible for an adequate level of coverage.

Currently, laid-off GNP employees and 677 people who retired from both the paper company and Pinkham Lumber Co. since 1992 are receiving limited coverage for prescriptions, urgent and emergency care as part of a $1.9 million interim health plan approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge in February. The interim plan will run out on April 29, or whenever the sale of the paper company is complete.

The pending sale of Great Northern to Brascan Corp., which has been delayed until sometime between May 1 and May 5, will not provide for retirees’ health care.

A delay in the pending sale has caused some confusion about when the interim health plan will run out. Khiel said she is being advised by the various attorneys involved in the bankruptcy proceedings that the interim plan would expire 12 weeks from court’s Feb. 4 decision, or April 29.

Khiel said there has been confusion about when people should apply for their own individual health insurance.

“It has come to my attention that some insurance companies have rules that may effect the extent of coverage people may obtain after the Interim Plan,” the Orono attorney said. “I suggest retirees apply for individual health care coverage as soon as possible.”

Khiel said it was important retirees look for an alternative health plan so they have continuing coverage. She said if retirees went without a health care plan and later decided to enroll in one, pre-existing health conditions may not be covered.

She said there are different deadlines depending on the type of the previous insurance coverage.

Earlier, Judith Chamberlain, the deputy superintendent of the Maine Insurance Bureau, said the deadline for fully insured plans was 90 days and 60 days for self-insured plans. Great Northern had offered a self-insured plan.

Khiel said officials at one insurance carrier recently advised her that if people did not secure a new health care plan by May 1, they may be eligible only for the same benefits they had under the interim plan, which is “bare bones.” She said other companies may have a different interpretation.

While Khiel is not advocating people seek coverage through any specific company, she said Anthem was holding informational sessions this weekend in Millinocket.

Anthem is holding an all day sign-up session from 9 a.m. to noon for people age 65 and older and from 1 to 4 p.m. for those under the age of 65, Saturday, April 26, at Millinocket Regional Hospital.

For more information about insurance, people can obtain a copy of the Consumer Guide to Individual Health Insurance published by the Maine Bureau of Insurance. The bureau’s address is 34 State House Station Augusta 04333, its telephone numbers are: 624-8475 or (800) 300-5000; or Web site at http://maineinsurancereg.org.