Health insurers support guaranteed coverage, mandate

America’s Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance industry’s trade group, has announced that its members will support guaranteed coverage regardless of preexisting conditions as long as it is accompanied by a mandate that everyone obtain health insurance (Source: “Insurers bend on pre-existing illness,” Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 20, 2008).

The proposal from the insurance industry differs from the plan proposed by President-elect Barack Obama, who is calling for the creation of a new insurance exchange to provide private insurance coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. His plan would require children to be insured, but not adults.

Some advocates for the uninsured are skeptical about the prospects of mandating insurance coverage for everyone. "The problem with a mandate is that affordable coverage is not available to the people who need it," said Cathy Levine, co-chairwoman of Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage.