Orshe

Buried on page 17 of the latest WSJ/NBC poll is an interesting table on priorities for the health-care overhaul. Respondents were given several live policy proposals and asked whether each should or shouldn’t be included in the final health care legislation.

Most popular by a mile: “Requiring that health insurance companies cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.” Sixty-three percent of respondents said that proposal “absolutely must” be included as part of any final legislation, and another 26% said they “would prefer” for it to be included.

Limiting the amount of money patients can collect after being injured by bad medical care was a distant second, with 36% of respondents saying legislation “absolutely must” contain such a provision, and another 29% saying they’d prefer it.

That was followed by requiring most employers to offer insurance or pay a fee. Creating a government-backed plan to compete against private insurers came next. If you lump together the “absolutely musts” and the “would prefers,” both of those proposals got support from a majority of respondents.

In fact, only one option offered by the pollsters was not backed by a majority of respondents: Requiring everyone to buy health insurance, and providing government assistance for low- and moderate-income people to do so. Only 18% of respondents said legislation “absolutely must” include such a provision, and another 20% said they’d prefer it.

Here’s the thing, though: If lawmakers do what the public seems to want — require insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions, without requiring everyone to buy insurance — they could create a perverse incentive for people to game the system. Don’t bother with insurance premiums when you’re healthy, then get coverage only if you really need it, when you get sick.

Read the original post: 
Poll: Make Insurers Cover People With Pre-Existing Conditions