A Matter of Preëxistence

Representative Travis Childers (D-Mississippi) said today that he wouldn't support the current healthcare reform bill. The AP article also said:

"Childers said companies should stop denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. He said he wants to see details before deciding whether he'd support a mandate for all Americans to have some type of health insurance."

I hope to God this guy doesn't think all insurance shouldn't be subject to preëxisting conditions.

"I want fire insurance on my house please. Yeah, it burned down last week, but who are you to deny me coverage for a preëxisting condition?"

"I need insurance for my Toyota. Yeah, it was in a major wreck last week, but you can't deny me coverage just because of a preëxisting condition."

So here is this congressman, basically telling health insurance companies they have to accept someone, even if they know that person is going to cause the company to lose money. Now, if the insurance company could charge different rates for different people based on their health, they'd just charge the guys with preëxising conditions a lot. But since they can't usually charge much more for a guy with pre&emul;xisting solutions, they need to jack up the prices everyone else pays.

If insurance companies can't use their judgment to screen out those with preëxisting conditions, or at least charge those people market rates, it's not insurance. Really, it's just a privately-administered redistributive scheme.