# What (if any) health care/insurance reform can we all agree on? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 20, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-any-health-care-insurance-reform-can-we-all-agree-on/533120 "2010-03-20T09:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RingsOfPylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3da27b/32.png) [@RingsOfPylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RingsOfPylon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-any-health-care-insurance-reform-can-we-all-agree-on/533120/41 "2010-03-22T11:18:09Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > I think most people agree with this in theory. The problem is that many people have diagnoses that CAN wait 90 days or more for treatment. True, this would take care of the accident victims that did not carry insurance or those who need an immediate operation, but what about people diagnosed with some slowly progessing illness. Find out you are getting ill and sign up with a policy that will take care of all those future meds. This just does not seem sustainable to me without a mandate on coverage. Unless, of course, the point is to drive premiums through the roof or put private insurance companies out of business. Well, the current HCR bill says they can wait, at least according to my reading of it. I understand what you’re saying and I don’t have a practical answer for it. If the rules say that the insurance companies don’t have to pay immediately for a pre-existing health condition (although some won’t make you wait), it means that they only cover new medical problems until the wait period is over, then coverage for the pre-existing condition begins. I would imagine, then, that the cost of treatment is on the patient for that period. So, if a cancer patient has a slip-and-fall accident, that will be covered; their cancer meds, for example, won’t be covered for 90 days. After the 90 days, the health insurance will cover those cancer meds. As for auto accidents (which you did not mention specifically, but I’ve seen other folks raise the issue), I know of no health insurance company that will cover injuries from auto accidents. That is covered by auto insurance; either your own or another party’s auto insurance, depending on whether or not you live in a no-fault state. In the case where no involved party has auto insurance, the funds come out of a minimum-coverage state insurance pool. Perhaps this varies in different states, but a health insurance company here is not on the hook to cover injuries from an auto accident. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-any-health-care-insurance-reform-can-we-all-agree-on/533120/42 "2010-03-22T13:41:54Z")
Huh? Health insurers will normally cover injuries from auto accidents if the auto insurers won’t (or don’t exist). They’re just not the primary payor. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-any-health-care-insurance-reform-can-we-all-agree-on/533120/43 "2010-03-24T03:09:49Z")
> [@Piker](#): > > The prospect of being jailed for over a year should they fail would probably keep a lot of legitimate possible plaintiffs from bringing their claim. There is such a thing called “overdetterence”. The positive effects outweigh the bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-any-health-care-insurance-reform-can-we-all-agree-on/533120.md?page=2)