In Defense of Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions

There is a huge problem with President Obama's healthcare plan that no one is talking about. In an Obama world, there would be no exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

I understand the motivation behind this ideal. It has got to be a crushing thing when your insurance carrier denies your claim because your medical condition supposedly existed prior to the insurance company covering you. It is unfortunate that such a thing happens.

But it is also a financial necessity.

Getting rid of pre-existing condition exclusions would be disastrous for the health insurance industry (hmm - isn't that really the plan of liberals after all?)

Getting rid of this exemption would be a negative incentive - it would give people an incentive not to have insurance until they are sick. Why have insurance before you get sick? There is no need.

Here's the thing - insurance companies make money by collecting premiums from people who don't use their services. This is true of health insurance, car insurance, home owners' insurance, life insurance, and any other kind of insurance you can think of. But how can an insurance company make money if the only people covered are sick? Imagine a system of car insurance where they could not deny coverage for a pre-existing automobile accident. You get in a crash, call an insurance company and get coverage to pay for the damages. Does that make sense to anyone?

But that is what we are looking at here! A system where healthy people see no need to get insurance so they wait til they are sick. How can an insurance company possibly hope to stay in business under such a system?

They couldn't of course. It's a no brainer.

So when Obama tells you that can keep your insurance if you like it, you really have to ask whether that is naivete or a flat-out lie. Insurance companies will be forced out of business because they will only be covering sick people.

I think part of the problem is that people forget exactly what "insurance" is for. It's for unexpected medical bills that you can't afford to pay. Car insurance doesn't cover a new transmission, it covers accidents and theft; home owners' insurance doesn't cover a new coat of paint, it covers fires and floods; health insurance shouldn't cover checkups and routine medical procedures, it should cover severe injuries and catastrophic illness.

But in an Obama world, none of this would be true. Insurance companies need to be destroyed because they are evil money grubbers (I can't believe they have the audacity to actually make a profit!). And getting rid of pre-existing condition exclusions in a sneaky way to do it.