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Our media is on this morning about the US being the only developed country that didn't have a universal health care program, and where insurance companies could cut people off for being sick, which of course was the reason they bought a policy in the first place.




This is somewhat of a straw man argument in which a scenario consisting of only some of the facts is constructed so it can be easily knocked down. Here's how American health care (used to) work:

1) the idea is to get coverage and keep it. That way, there is maximum participation so losses are distributed over a very broad base.

2) In this system, the worst thing would be for nobody to participate until they found out they had a dread disease, then try to buy into the benefits without also having paid into the broad base of support. Such a situation would quickly fill up with abusers and go bankrupt because the value subtractors would far outnumber the value adders.

3) therefore, as long as you maintain insurance, you cannot be denied coverage. This rewards those who help the system work the way it is supposed to work. It is false to say that people are just randomly denied benefits.

4) the problem arises when you lose coverage, because then the insurance company treats you the same as somebody who declined coverage until he found out about a dread disease. They can exclude any pre-existing conditions in that case to minimize abuse.

5) to offset this, our system offers COBRA insurance to help people maintain coverage when they lose coverage they had through an employer. Theoretically, this empowers people to make sure they continue to have coverage and therefore cannot be hit with pre-existing condition clause.

6) but people often decline the COBRA insurance for a variety of reasons. Then, after their coverage expires, they learn they can't get it reinstated with the same coverage they had formerly. But it is worth mentioning that this is in the control of the insured. When coverage totally lapses, it is because the insured allowed it for one reason or another. (usually lack of funds due to unemployment)

Like most systems, it covers many bases, but not perfectly. All in all, it is a fairly common-sense system in terms of how capitalism works. It generates enough income to provide the promised service, plus profit for the company. (It could be better regulated so the profits are not excessive IMHO)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0