Instead of more political meddling in insurance markets like guaranteed issue and community rating, the following free-market-oriented reforms would help alleviate the problems with pre-existing conditions. From John Goodman at the Health Affairs Blog:
- Encourage Portable Insurance.
- Allow Special Health Savings Accounts for the Chronically Ill.
- Allow Special Needs Health Insurance.
- Allow Health Status Insurance.
- Allow Self-Insurance for Changes in Health Status.
- Give People on Their Own the Same Tax Break Employees Get.
- Allow Providers to Repackage and Reprice Their Services Under Medicare and Medicaid.
- Allow Access to Mandate-Free Insurance.
- Create a National Market for Health Insurance.
- Encourage Post-Retirement Health Insurance.
For explanations of each, see Goodman’s article: Ten Small-Scale Reforms For Pre-existing (Chronic) Conditions.