THERE'S A REASON IT'S CALLED INSURANCE

Edwin L. Fountain is half right:

People buy insurance against risk, and they agree to pool their risks with other people. In exchange for others paying for the costs of your care if you eventually need it, you agree to pay your share of the costs of theirs. A person with a preexisting condition, however, is not pooling his risk of needing care; he is asking other insured people to pay for his certain costs of treatment. That is no longer insurance against risk. It is cost-shifting.

Uh, not exactly. Here's an example from the Austin American Statesman (August 18; no link):

I am unemployed. My COBRA expires in two months. Once in my life I was diagnosed with hypertesion. I take no nedication at all. But because the diagnosis is on my medical record, my attempts to get private insurance have been denied.

So I will ask ... the same question that I have asked of our senators (no response, of course): How am I to get medical coverage?"

I'm not eligible for "health insurance" either, other than on my/my wife's employer plan (which do not have a pre-existing condition clause) because I have on my record a cardiac catherization which found a minor blockage. The fact that my cardiologist considers it insignificant is irrelevant. My brother is ineligible as well: he felt a doctor-recommended test was unnecessary and chose not to have it performed.

Insurance is, as described, a risk-pooling mechanism. The premium cost is based on the assessed risk, which can easily be adjusted to accomodate "pre-existing conditions." Automobile insurance works in exactly that way by increasing premiums for young drivers, not denying them insurance.

Here's why Fountain is only half-right: the fact is that health insurance as currently constituted is not insurance - it is prepaid medical care.