Problem med liberalismen.

Some of you may have patients, colleagues, or family members who face
problems getting health insurance because they have pre-existing conditions.

CNN has released an article providing some suggestions: "Tips for
getting insurance when you have a pre-existing condition."

Here are some excerpts:

[begin excerpts]

Nineteen-year-old Stuart Wald is not likely to grow out of his
schizophrenia, bipolar disease and attention-deficit disorder.

But he will, with 100 percent certainty, grow out of the health
insurance coverage he has through his father's employer -- and that day
is just a few years away.

<snip>

The Walds (not their real name) know he'll never get insurance on his
own because he has not just one but three pre-existing conditions.

Without insurance, it will cost the Walds thousands of dollars a month
for his treatment and care.

If Stuart could get insurance through his own employer, that would solve
the problem.

With "group insurance," you can't be denied coverage because of pre-
existing conditions.

But millions of people can't get insurance through a job for a variety
of reasons: They're self-employed, or their employer doesn't offer
health insurance, or, like Stuart, they're too sick to work.

That's when they're forced to find insurance on the "individual" market.

<snip>

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 21 percent of people who
apply for health insurance on their own get turned down, charged a
higher price or offered a plan that excludes coverage for their pre-
existing condition.

"It's a huge problem, because insurance companies don't want to insure
sick people," said Nancy Metcalf, senior program editor for Consumer Reports.

"They're a business. They don't want to insure people they know are
going to cost them a lot of money."