11-11-2016, 11:14 PM
michaelb wrote:
[quote=$tevie]
One is a ban on insurers denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
I have posted this before but I will try again. A ban on a denial based on a preexisting condition doesn't make any sense separated from a process for setting the rate. Otherwise, the insurance company can just set your rate at 1000x or 10,000x the market price.
There are three deeply interrelated concepts:
"coverage for preexisting conditions": the policy covers conditions that existed before signing up
"guaranteed issue": the company will sign you up no matter what your medical history
"community rating": the cost of a policy is based on a shared risk pool, not the individual's medical history.
You can't really do one without the others.
Thanks for posting. It's true that you can't have one without the others.
If an insurance company can't refuse me for preexisting conditions, why should I buy health insurance before I have a health problem?
...and yeah, if they can instead offer to charge me a zillion dollars a month based on my preexisting conditions, how is that different than refusing me?
It seems to me that this is just a microcosm of what a Trump presidency will be. He will either do what he promised his supporters he would, which is terrible (deporting 11 million people, or ending Obamacare and insurance for 20 million Americans) or impossible (making Mexico pay for a wall, cutting taxes and reducing deficits)...
...or he'll just forget all those promises and hope that the saps who voted for him don't notice. Which is what I'm pulling for, personally, since most of what he promised them in terms of policy won't work.