If it's a preexisting condition, then you aren't buying insurance, you're buying a finance plan, right? I mean, you wouldn't walk into an Allstate office, sign up for new auto insurance and :30 seconds later ask them to fix the dent you had before you walked into the office, right?
I'm not sure what the answer is, but forcing companies to pay for preexisting conditions, isn't it. Rates are going to raise, putting insurance further out of the reach of individuals and small businesses.
Imagine there is no gov’t intervention in the insurance market ... short of the usual you must follow your contract. Don't you think you could negotiate a policy to cover your 45-year old 'child', or your high blood pressure, or whatever? Seems to me a free market would take care of that.
Failing that, since we seem to be so afraid of not having the government control things, there should at least be a long waiting period on pre-existing conditions. Looking for insurance when you've always been insured and have a preexiting condition that has been covered for years is a bit different than running uninsured for 25 years and then going for the coverage when you get the diabetes diagnosis.
If I have the pre-existing condition of diabetes, does that affect my insurability for breast cancer? Are we talking about adjusting rates for risk factors, or refusing entirely to insure any but the perfectly healthy?
The answer for “pre-existing conditions” is tax deductible personal, individual health savings accounts combined with high deductible insurance plans.
But this puts too much power (and responsibility) into the hands of the individual.