[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Apparently in many instances people with preexisting conditions couldn’t get coverage at all

That's misleading. There are/were various federal and state (and even local) healthcare programs to provide assistance. Plus you have numerous charity groups and orgs.

or had to pay outrageously high premiums on their coverage to defray the added costs the insurance companies knew they were taking on in writing the coverage

These premiums are high due to government intervention in the health-care market in the form of subsidies and regulations.

Pre-existing conditions is a red-herring.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Pre-existing conditions is a red-herring...uh huh - I don't know how few of anything it takes to turn an issue into a red-herring, but the latest Fox News Poll shows that the most important topic to most voters in the upcoming election is healthcare, ahead of the economy, terrorism, and even Trump - with 58% saying it's most important to them - and the great majority of these think the 'rats would do a better job of handling healthcare than the 'pubs - and the heart of every 'rat healthcare TV ad I've seen seems to be some poor soul with some preexisting medical condition who is having trouble finding affordable insurance after Obamacare - I just hope for the GOP's sake most of those red-herrings just stay home and don't vote in November......