Throughout President Obama’s tenure in office, we’ve heard a lot of talk about pre-existing conditions. The public has been inundated with studies and polls attempting to sway opinion in favor of eliminating these alleged hurdles to obtaining quality health insurance. We’ve heard from politicians, statisticians, and pundits, but who can remember hearing from anyone personally affected?
I’ve been particularly interested in the passage of ObamaCare precisely because of its implications for pre-existing conditions. Last Tuesday, a U.S. government study reported that as many as 129 million Americans under age 65 face rejection or higher premiums from insurance companies due to pre-existing medical conditions. Arguments have ensued that this number is inflated and not reflective of reality. Frankly, I’m not sure whom to believe. That pre-existing conditions are a real problem affecting Americans cannot be denied, but what’s the real story? Who is talking to those people whose lives have been drastically altered by their insurance company’s decision to deny benefits, or who have been unable to obtain credible coverage at all?
You see, I’m one of those unfortunate “statistics” who fell through the cracks of the health insurance industry as we know it. When I was in college and covered by my father’s health care plan – a top-notch union negotiated plan, no less – a congenital condition with which I was born necessitated a series of reconstructive surgeries. Because I obtained employment with a small business that did not provide health insurance, I continued coverage through my father’s insurance plan on a COBRA policy. At the end of this 3-year period, I sought to purchase an individual plan.
The obstacles my family and I faced along the way to obtaining individual coverage were virtually insurmountable. We were met with a plethora of mis-information, discrimination, and rejection. The companies that denied my applications informed me of my “rights” under HIPAA to purchase an adjustable-rate policy that would not contain riders, but the cost would vary month-to-month starting from $500 - $700. This was neither realistic nor how the provisions regarding pre-existing conditions in HIPAA were meant to facilitate increased access to coverage.
Of the numerous health insurance companies to which I applied, only one was willing to insure me, and that policy contained riders for my congenital condition as well as other health issues for which I’d sought treatment in the past. In other words, this company was willing to cover treatment for anything except the conditions for which I required care.
To be fair, I didn’t entirely blame the insurance companies. If I was on the other end of the stick, I’d have a few qualms about insuring a high-risk applicant too. Yet, I had no lapse in coverage. I had not acquired health problems through poor diet, lack or exercise, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, or other behavioral risk factors. I just had the simple misfortune of being born with a condition that required care, and as a result had been – for all intents and purposes – blackballed in the industry.
This anti-big-government, pro-states rights conservative admittedly leapt out of her seat when she learned of ObamaCare’s provisions regarding pre-existing conditions. Even as I unilaterally condemned this massive expansion of government, the affront to individual liberties through compulsory conscription into ObamaCare in the name of the “Commerce Clause,” and the potential probable bankrupting of small business (and our nation), I had to acknowledge ObamaCare would in some regards help me.
As conservatives in Congress have mounted an attack aimed at repealing ObamaCare and 26 states have filed lawsuits against the federal government, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the federal government’s responsibility to overhaul the industry simply because some unknown percentage of the population undeniably needs intervention and regulation. The Constitution-abiding conservative in me quickly answers no, but the private citizen who has been forced to pay hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket for x-rays knows reform is long overdue and absolutely necessary, especially for those employed by small businesses.
According to most polls, most Americans are generally content with their healthcare options; despite the riders on my policy, I, too, must admit I have access to the best healthcare in the world (an opinion reinforced by a recent trip to Europe). Gallup polls show this country has not reached a consensus on ObamaCare – 46% of Americans support Republican led efforts to repeal the law, 40% are in favor of the law as it was written, and 14% are ambivalent. It’s little wonder the nation is so divided. None of us, including Mrs. Pelosi, knows precisely how the bill’s passage is going to affect our wallets or the health insurance marketplace, so we rely on imprecise statistics and economists’ predictions, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.
Following the passage of ObamaCare, many large companies announced that the costs of providing health care to their employees would necessarily skyrocket: AT&T, $1 billion; Verizon, $970 million; Deere & Co., $150 million; Boeing, $150 million; Caterpillar, $100 million; Prudential Financial Inc., $100 million; and Lockheed Martin, $96 million. Moreover, there have been numerous conflicting studies concerning how much the implementation of ObamaCare will increase the federal deficit, but nearly all agree that it will increase.
Though my struggles with insurance have been great, I have been blessed in several regards – the riders on my policy were not for life-threatening conditions, and I have family who would give their last dime to ensure I received necessary medical treatment. Others with similar obstacles haven’t been so fortunate. There are many in this country whose stories are not unlike my own, and whether they number in the hundreds or millions, their stories matter. Those who denounce recent statistics as “liberal propaganda” need to remember there are faces and names behind numbers.
While I applaud this administration for bringing pre-existing conditions and other deficiencies in the healthcare system to light, I do not believe ObamaCare, as the law is currently written, is the panacea liberals hyped. Even as I wrestle with the question if health care is a basic human right or a privilege, I know the answer to my own dilemma is not to impose a mandate on someone else or bankrupt the country for the sake of “fairness.” That’s precisely the lack of personal responsibility that’s wrong with this nation – from Wall Street charlatans down to those able-bodied persons who pilfer social security disability benefits.
I don’t begin to have the prescription for what ails the insurance industry, but ObamaCare surely isn’t it. Real reform can be achieved without removing the American citizen from the decision-making process regarding his / her health care, and it can certainly be done so while adhering to the Constitution and free-market principles – by allowing individuals to purchase health care coverage across state lines – to name one. For those facing pre-existing conditions, centralized control of health care in the hands of Washington bureaucrats and the HHS is simply more of the same lack of choice and competition that allowed insurance companies to implement these restrictions and will surely result in lesser personal freedoms than we currently enjoy. Don’t give Washington the very power insurance companies banded together to divest from us.
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