Name:   copperline - Subject:   Obama economy legacy building Date:   4/25/2016 11:09:57 AM

No, portability was a huge problem before the ACA.   If you left your employer & changed insurance companies, you were subject to the restrictions designed by the new insurer.  There was no protection & guarantee of continued coverage, you were completely on your own.    Your best best was to change jobs but not insurance companies (in Alabama, that was was more often the case because BC/BS has a 95% market share).  Even then, your new employers policy was unique and contained whatever restrictions written in to keep costs down & sell the contract to that company.

  In my case, after being a BC/BS customer for several decades, a routine test showed I had the gene for Hemochromotosis, which if left untreated could lead to liver cancer.     When I left my job, BC/BS rejected my new application citing the pre-existing condition even though there were no symptoms or liver problems at the time.  To BC/BS, the gene test was the same as an absolute prediction that I would have the illness in the future.... even though preventative treatment is ridiculously cheap & effective.   (all I have to do is donate blood once every 4 months, seriously.....)   Same for the other insurers like United Healtcare.      I appealed the BC/BS decision,  they continued to refuse coverage.   After the ACA, I was able to get BC/BS thru the federal  exchange because the new law prohibits the use of this tactic to deny coverage.

Much of my career was spent trying to work with insurance companies on behalf of people whose conditions were seen as an expensive cost-risk to insurers, so I think I  have a good bit of knowledge about how those companies built in de facto barriers to access healthcare and protect their profit margins.      A couple of favorites:   the adolescent boy who was denied coverage because the fine print of his dad's policy excluded brain injuries,  people who reached the life-time maximums of their insurance and effectively canceled at that point,   the hundreds (thousands?) of people who rushed into emergency rooms only to find out that their insurance didn't cover the particular hospital they were at, chronically ill people who were so depressed they were suicidal... but refused coverage because their policy didn't over a psychiatrist.   

And if you think health insurance has been logical, designed to help people get the best care they need, consistent across policies & applications, easily understood by policy holders and always has the customers best interests in mind.... well, we just disagree.