How can insurance companies include preexisting conditions without a health care mandate?

[carla1233]

If there's no mandate, and insurance companies are forced to give me affordable health care regardless of preexisting conditions, that means I only have to get health insurance when I come down with cancer. I hear many Republicans stating that they are all for barring insurance companies from excluding those with preexisting conditions, but none of them explain how you can do so without a national mandate to buy health insurance like we have with auto insurance.

[dotty.]

what is a republican abd am i one?

[dotty.]

ahhh, I do drive an auto though, never could get the hang of a manual, couldn't hear the gear changes

[bednobs]

This is a predominantly uk site - i doubt many people know the ins and outs of US healthcare

[HowardKennitby]

I infer from your post that you are in the US of A. This is a UK based site and does not get many American contributions. There are some but they do not post often. You may be lucky.

[EDDIE51]

You need to ask on a US site we know nothing about US health insurance schemes. We have the NHS and it's free.

[dotty.]

I used to watch St Elsewhere and so I have some idea at how bad the US is at looking after it's own people.

[FredPuli43]

We notice that Romneycare was universal. It presumably was mandated within the State. (Why he objects to Obamacare on the ground that it is federal and not state by state, is not clear, by the way). If not mandated you have the curious consequence that many who are ill with conditions which cost a lot of money to treat will sign up and not be balanced by the many who are still healthy, which is no way to run an insurance business! The Netherlands has a system which seems to be a basic model for yours. (They never had your politics in the way of it, so we may guess it's simpler!). It is mandated, with penalties, fines etc, for those who don't sign up to it, and entirely insured by private insurers who cannot but provide a package of insurance, at a fixed price, to everyome without exception, whatever their health.

[MoonRocker]

Yes this is a UK site but I think I can see what you are getting at. Why pay for insurance when you can take it out when you get sick? I think the installation of this will be such that you cannot do what you are suggesting. You'll probably have to have health insurance continually via some system that is comparable to the UK's National insurance, probably administered through the social security number system. No doubt the US will have some issues installing this as up to now Universal health care as been an anathema.

[njovianni]

What they do is limit benefits related to the existing condition for the first year of coverage.

I've never supported any action to prevent insurance companies from protecting themselves from the financial ravages of having to immediately cover pre-existing conditions in full. That would kill insurance companies, which would not be a good thing at all.

Of course, better than a mandate would be free-market solutions to the problem, so that there could be interstate competition for insurance, giving people more choice and the benefit of lower costs due to more competition between insureres. Throw in tax credits for individuals at the same level that companies get for offering health care as a benefit, and you have created a condition where people can own their own insurance policies, and which will be portable for them, so they do not keep having to worry about it when they change employment.

And, as ever, there is nothing in the Constitution that gives the federal government any authority to have any control or direct any resources to health care or health insurance. Check this out bcbs colorado http://2healthinsuran...anthem-bcbs-colorado/ .
BR

[njovianni]

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[CaelinCarter]

Follow-Up -People have stated, "Why should I pay for some one else that chooses not to have coverage until they need it?" Make no mistake, you pay for it now. There is a population of individuals today that use emergency rooms as their primary source of Healthcare. That is the most expensive form. In theory, with insurance these individuals will be free to make appointments with a Primary Care Physician, during office hours.