But by removing the ability of insurance companies to discriminate in their selection of who to ensure, buying insurance -- and insurance premiums overall -- will inevitably increase. Why? "If insurers are forced to sell coverage to everyone at any time, many people will buy insurance only when they need medical care. This raises the cost of insurance for everyone else, in particular those who are responsible enough to buy insurance before they need it; they end up paying even higher premiums. And the more expensive the insurance, the less likely people will buy it before they need it" (the truth about health insurance, 2009, the Wall Street Journal).
Prohibiting discrimination, in other words, will create a vicious cycle. Individuals who feel they are immortal -- like healthy young people starting new careers pinching every penny -- will not buy health insurance. More of the sick and the elderly, who desperately need insurance coverage and cost insurers more money, will make up the rolls of the insured. For those covered under their insurance buying it through group plans, their fees will go up and insurers will be forced to cover fewer services. Unable to spread out the costs over a large and diverse pool of insured clients, insurers will be forced to raise rates and co-pays, and impose new restrictions on coverage. As insurance becomes less attractive, and covers fewer services, healthy people will be even less apt to purchase it.
Finally, denying insurers the ability to discriminate against potential customers with preexisting conditions also acts as a disincentive for individuals to lead a healthy lifestyle. Prohibiting discrimination also means prohibiting discrimination against smokers, the obese, and individuals who have engaged in behaviors to give themselves chronic health conditions.
The argument for eliminating discrimination based upon preexisting conditions is largely an emotional one: there is the looming specter of the individual with...
However, because of current HIPAA regulations, such an individual is just that -- more often a figure of rhetoric than reality. Recourses do exist for the self-employed and uninsured, such as finding insurance through group plan such as the Freelancer's Union. The reality is that when the ranks of the insured ill counterweight those of the well, insurance premiums go up stratospherically high. Only recently health insurers testified before Congress that "they had also lost some of their healthiest customers, many of whom dropped their insurance during the economic downturn [and] these customers had left 'an insured pool that utilizes significantly more services per individual than under better economic times'" (Seeyle 2010). When rates go up, more of the healthy will forego health insurance: and the statistics regarding the costs of mandated coverage are sobering. Of the states that have experimented with mandated coverage, or so-called 'guaranteed issue,' New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts "have the three most expensive individual insurance markets among all 50 states, with premiums roughly two to three times higher than the rest of the country" (the truth about health insurance, 2009, the Wall Street Journal).
References
Freelancer's Union. (2010). Retrieved February 13, 2010 at http://www.freelancersunion.org/insurance/how.html
Preexisting conditions. (2010). How Stuff Works. Retrieved February 13, 2010 at http://health.howstuffworks.com/pre-existing-condition.htm
Seeyle, Katherine Q. (2010, February 12). Administration rejects health insurer's defense of huge rate increases. The New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2010 at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/health/policy/12insure.html
The truth about health insurance. (2009, August 12). The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 13, 2010 at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574332293172846168.html
