Question
Will the candidate prohibit insurance companies from charging exorbitant premiums to people with pre-existing conditions or family histories of health problems?
The Issue
In order for insurance to serve its purpose of protecting hard-working Americans from the high costs of illness, everyone must have access to quality, affordable coverage. Currently, older people, sicker people, people with family histories of health problems, and people with pre-existing conditions—even common conditions such as hay fever and asthma—have a difficult, if not impossible, time finding an affordable health insurance plan.3 This is because insurers are free to charge whatever they want for coverage. And, when it comes to insurance premiums for people with pre-existing conditions, in most states, the sky is the limit.4
When people who need insurance have to pay more than they can afford or cannot buy it at all, the individual insurance market—and the health care system overall—is not working as it should. In order to ensure the physical and financial health of Americans and make the health care system fairer and more efficient, everyone must have equal access to quality coverage at a reasonable price.
Right now, it is up to each state to enact rules that protect consumers from unreasonably high health insurance premiums. A few states have done this, but most have not. Leaving it up to each state to protect consumers makes many Americans vulnerable to being priced out of coverage. Worse, some policymakers want to allow insurance companies to sell plans across state lines, which would enable these companies to elude state regulations that currently protect consumers. A national rule that protects everyone from unfairly high premiums would make insurance coverage affordable for the millions of Americans who need it.
The Positions
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Senator McCain: Senator McCain’s health care plan does not place any limits on the premiums that insurance companies can charge for individuals who have pre-existing conditions or family histories of health problems. His plan will allow insurance companies to continue to increase premiums based on health problems and age. In addition, Senator McCain’s plan permits the sale of insurance policies across state lines, allowing companies to circumvent any state laws that limit premium increases for older and sicker consumers. |
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Senator Obama: Senator Obama’s health care plan creates a National Health Insurance Exchange in which participating companies will be prohibited from increasing premiums for individuals because of pre-existing conditions or family histories of health problems. Participating insurance plans will cover all essential medical services and will be subject to reasonable limits on the premiums that they can charge to applicants, regardless of age or health status. |
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Footnotes
3 Sarah Collins, Jennifer Kriss, Karen Davis, Michelle Doty, and Alyssa Holmgren, Squeezed: Why Rising Exposure to Health Care Costs Threatens the Health and Financial Well-Being of American Families (New York: The Commonwealth Fund, Sptember 2006). See also Karen Pollitz, Richard Sorian, and Kathy Thomas, How Accessible Is Individual Health Insurance for Consumers in Less-than-Perfect Health? (Washington: Kaiser Family Foundation, June 2001).
4 Ella Hushagen and Cheryl Fish-Parcham, op. cit. |
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