Advocates against pre-existing condition rules argue that they cruelly deny people in need of treatment.
State Farm spokeswoman K.C. Eynatten has said, "We realized our position was based on gut feelings, not hard numbers... we became aware that we were part of the reason a woman and her children might not leave an abuser. They were afraid they'd lose their insurance. And we wanted no part of that." Jerry Flanagan, health-care policy director of
Consumer Watchdog, has stated that "insurance companies want premiums without any risk" and go to extreme "lengths... to go to make a profit". InsureMe, an insurance quote provider website, has argued that even though health insurance is basically to protect people from very high costs of health care, the commercial health insurance system is not playing fair and are always trying to avoid risk in order to boost their profits. Some practices by some
health insurance companies, such as determining
domestic violence to be an excludable pre-existing condition, have been called abuses by Maria Tchijov, a
Service Employees International Union new media coordinator, and by an
Office of Rural Health Policy report. The rationale behind pre-existing condition clauses, according to those who defend the policies, is that they reduce the cost of health insurance coverage for those who still receive it, thus giving more people an opportunity to afford insurance in the first place. The
San Francisco Chronicle has reported that "[c]osts for those with coverage could go up because people in poor health who'd been shut out of the insurance pool would now be included... they would get medical care they could not access before."
Senator Mike Enzi, a
Republican from
Wyoming, has voted to allow insurance companies to consider domestic violence as a pre-existing condition and supported his vote by saying that covering such people could raise insurance premiums to the point where it would preclude others from buying it. He has remarked that "If you have no insurance, it doesn't matter what services are mandated by the state". According to the California-based advocacy group
Consumer Watchdog, other possible situations falling under pre-existing condition clauses are chronic conditions as
acne,
hemorrhoids,
toenail fungus,
allergies,
tonsillitis, and
bunions, hazardous occupations such as
police officer,
stunt person,
test pilot,
circus worker, and
firefighter, and
pregnancy and/or
the intention to adopt. == Commentary by lawmakers ==