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<blockquote data-quote="TechGrrl" data-source="post: 583694" data-attributes="member: 4932">And under the current system, if you were to lose your job for any reason, it would be impossible for you to purchase insurance at any price because of your wife.&nbsp; Once your COBRA ran out, that would be it.&nbsp; That&#039;s one of the things we need to change.&nbsp; Insurance companies weed out people who are likely to have claims.Now, I am not suggesting that insurance companies cover everyone without regard to risks.&nbsp; But rigging the risk pools that only people who are not at risk is unfair.&nbsp; This is one reason most of the reform plans call for requiring universal signup:&nbsp; you need to create risk pools with a profile that includes younger, healthier people.A fundamental difference between health risk pools and other insurance risk pools is that by and large, the individual has very little control over whether they will need the insurance.&nbsp; We can debate unhealthy lifestyles into infinity, but IN GENERAL, people can be hit by very expensive diseases and accidents through no fault of their own, no matter how young and healthy they are.&nbsp; But statistically, a large enough population will allow for accurate acturial analysis of what the payouts will be, and so the premiums can be forecast with some confidence.&nbsp; That&#039;s why employer-based insurance works for large companies (big enough risk pool) and not for small companies. (Risk pool too small not to be affected by one bad roll of the dice.)Medical science cannot predict with any certainty who will or will not develop a particular disease.&nbsp; Even diseases with apparent links to family genetics don&#039;t hit EVERY member of a family, in general.&nbsp; But the insurance companies are being more and more agressive about weeding out even small possibilities, in the markets where they can.&nbsp; Like the individual and small company market.&nbsp; In most places, there is no true competition: one or two large conglomerates divvy up the market between them, and fight to cherry pick those least likely to file claims.&nbsp; The large employers have enough clout to negotiate, or have enough employees to self-insure and simply pay the comglomerate for administrative services.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TechGrrl, post: 583694, member: 4932"] And under the current system, if you were to lose your job for any reason, it would be impossible for you to purchase insurance at any price because of your wife. Once your COBRA ran out, that would be it. That's one of the things we need to change. Insurance companies weed out people who are likely to have claims. Now, I am not suggesting that insurance companies cover everyone without regard to risks. But rigging the risk pools that only people who are not at risk is unfair. This is one reason most of the reform plans call for requiring universal signup: you need to create risk pools with a profile that includes younger, healthier people. A fundamental difference between health risk pools and other insurance risk pools is that by and large, the individual has very little control over whether they will need the insurance. We can debate unhealthy lifestyles into infinity, but IN GENERAL, people can be hit by very expensive diseases and accidents through no fault of their own, no matter how young and healthy they are. But statistically, a large enough population will allow for accurate acturial analysis of what the payouts will be, and so the premiums can be forecast with some confidence. That's why employer-based insurance works for large companies (big enough risk pool) and not for small companies. (Risk pool too small not to be affected by one bad roll of the dice.) Medical science cannot predict with any certainty who will or will not develop a particular disease. Even diseases with apparent links to family genetics don't hit EVERY member of a family, in general. But the insurance companies are being more and more agressive about weeding out even small possibilities, in the markets where they can. Like the individual and small company market. In most places, there is no true competition: one or two large conglomerates divvy up the market between them, and fight to cherry pick those least likely to file claims. The large employers have enough clout to negotiate, or have enough employees to self-insure and simply pay the comglomerate for administrative services. [/QUOTE]

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