I say coverage does not begin for any pre-existing condition until 6-12 months after policy begins. That may help keep people from not getting insurance until after they are diagnosed with a “significant” chronic illness.
Also, if you already have coverage through work and you lose your job you should be allowed to keep that coverage as long as you want, but you need to cover full cost (your share and the portion your job was covering). But I am not sure how the pooling would work, it probably isn’t fair to keep you in employer’s pool, so there may need a separate pool (but then probably only the high cost holders would stick around).
Somehow most of these uninsured and still getting the medical treatment they need (i.e. charities, hospitals waiving charges, the government). There should be savings elsewhere than can be channeled to these pools. Companies may be willing to contribute to a general fund for high risk unemployed if it means savings elsewhere. And hospital/docs may be willing to contribute if tort reform lowers malpractice costs.
I’d probably also jack up co-pays and deductibles to keep people from going to doctor for every minor ailment (like me).
I think the key question is, did you get sick before dropping coverage or after? If you got sick before, then you should be covered. From my previous post, if you where covered through July and had a heart attack in June, the insurance company should cover the cost of complete recovery from the heart attack.