Preexisting conditions:
1. They should be able to be priced into the policy for immediate coverage.
2. They should be excludable for a period of, say, six months if the policy is regular priced.
3. A 1% surcharge could be proposed and debated on all policies to establish a fund to cover shortfalls from the insuring of preexisting conditions. (Note - this is a suggestion to DEBATE, not simply impose).
4. Continuous insurance coverage should count, even with a new policy, toward coverage of a preexisting condition.
Full disclosure: I have a 20 year preexisting condition (diabetes) that I have taken care of continuously. I understand that life’s circumstances have given me an opportunity to pay more for basic insurance. But, having taken care of the condition for 20 years, I do not see that I deserve to be completely shafted.
I have heart disease which at some point may need open heart surgery to fix.
I’m self-employed and for many, many years I was unable to get health insurance...completely and totally unable to get it. Not one company would insure me, not one.
Then, under Obamacare I was finally able to get it. I understand how awful O-care is. I’ve got friends who have seen their rates double and triple while their deductibles have risen to $8,00-$12,000 before coverage starts, which is completely untenable.
I know some Freepers here say folks like us should just pay the $500,000 to the heart surgeon and cardiologist, or find a doctor willing to take payments, or simply die because we’re not multi-millionaires, but in the real world...that just won’t fly.
We somehow have to find a way to fix the system without returning it to the bad old days when people like me were simply terminal patients who just weren’t embalmed yet.
Ed