Okay, look folks. Look at this thread. Everyone has had to go out and do major contortions to find their own solutions to their own individual problems -- and many replies say that only recently did they discover solutions.
The pre ex issue remains enormous. Oh, and the person to went from BCBS in one place to another . . . NO . . . that did not solve your problem. The new locale BCBS does have to take you, but they don't have to take you at the original price. They will jack your premium.
Pre ex in effect prevents you from relocating. Yes, a lot of this is state to state -- but look at this thread. Look at the contortions to find a solution -- and the solution you find will jack its prices double digit % per year.
Bush is stepping out and raising the issue. The GOP HAS TO HAVE A VOTE WINNING POSITION ON THIS BECAUSE IT WILL BE AN ENORMOUS 2008 ISSUE.
My suggestion is a federal mandate that all individual policies are, in total, a group. They get group rates and no pre ex exclusions. The insurance industry would be hit by this. The answer is a tax cut for that industry to compensate. This looks to me to be a solid tax-cutting conservative approach.
Dear Owen,
"My suggestion is a federal mandate that all individual policies are, in total, a group. They get group rates and no pre ex exclusions."
The difficulty here is that many folks would sensibly refrain from buying health insurance until some major illness arose.
Without the ability to exclude pre-existing conditions, or to require continuous coverage in lieu of the exclusion, health insurance companies would receive individual policy premiums primarily from sick people, and not from well people.
Insurance doesn't work so well under those circumstances.
Your idea only works if there is an individual mandate requiring every adult to obtain health insurance. This hasn't usually gone over well with some segments of the Republican coalition.
sitetest
Yes, it will be a huge issue. The Democrats will say "We're going to give you free/government funded health care with no hassles. You just to the doctor when you want to. The system will take care of everything." This will appeal to a lot of people.
However, this will be rationed care with government gatekeepers hidden well out of site. The dems won't bother to point that out. Since a rationed federal system can coast for some years on the existing infrastructure, the real damage only becomes apparent downstream. That's the political difficulty we face.