Insurance Companies Acting Rationally

TW: I do not begrudge insurance companies acting rationally to protect their businesses. Health insurance companies have tremendous incentives to restrict their coverage to those consumers with less risk or in other words those with higher odds or remaining healthy. One way our current system rations care is by putting increasing pressure on private insurance companies to exclude more risky or less healthy folks. As data sources grow and science advances the correlations between things like bunions and other diseases or propensity to consume health care will increase. As insurance providers learn things they will be able to exclude rationally more and more folks.

Older folks are not exposed to this dynamic, most poor folks are not either. It is those under 65 and working or at least wanting to work who are subject to this dynamic. Universal coverage's primary goal is to provide mechanisms by which everyone can obtain health care "insurance/coverage" at a viable price.

From WaPo:
"A proposal to make preexisting health conditions irrelevant in the sale of insurance policies could help not just the seriously ill but also people who might consider themselves healthy, documents released Friday by a California-based advocacy group illustrate.

Health insurers have issued guidelines saying they could deny coverage to people suffering from such conditions as acne, hemorrhoids and bunions.

One big insurer refused to issue individual policies to police officers and firefighters, along with people in other hazardous occupations.

Some treated pregnancy or the intention to adopt as a reason for rejection.

As Congress and President Obama work on legislation to overhaul the nation's health-care system, one of their main objectives is to stop insurers from denying coverage on the basis of health status. Proposed legislation would prohibit insurers from denying coverage to individuals with preexisting conditions or charging them higher premiums because of their medical history -- practices known as medical underwriting.

...Health Net guidelines for 2006 say that people could be denied coverage or charged higher premiums if they were taking certain medications, including Zyrtec, an allergy remedy, and Lamisil, which is widely advertised as a treatment for toenail fungus.

...Blue Cross of California guidelines for 2004 said potential disqualifiers included chronic tonsillitis and, under certain circumstances, varicose veins."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/18/AR2009091803501.html