I’m conflicted on this issue.
On one hand, I have sympathy for folks who have been diagnosed with a medical condition, especially if they are sitting without health insurance.
Now, there’s a groundswell that insurance companies should have to take all comers – even those with known pre-exiting conditions.
Here’s the rub: people with disqualifying pre-existing conditions are – by definition – more costly to cover than most of the folks already in the insurance pool. In other word, average medical expenses for people in the pool will increase.
So, the pivotal question is who should pay for the “extra” medical care that the pre-existers require.
Some folks apparently believe that there are no additional expenses, or that there is an insurance fairy who take care of things.
Other folks think the insurance companies should just eat the extra expenses – just paying the extra amounts out of profits.
The reality is that the high cost of covering a pre-exister will be spread across all people in the insurance pool. In other words, premiums will go up.
So remember, when you cavalierly say “cover all people with pre-existing conditions”, you’re really saying “I’m willing to pay higher insurance premiums so that people with pre-existing conditions get coverage”.
That may be the right answer. Just don’t whine when your premiums get jacked up. There are no free lunches.
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The Homa Files 