Minnesota already had a 'high-risk pool' and it didn't fix health care

There’s a lot both parties can agree on when it comes to health care.

Yes, health care is expensive. Yes, people who are unfortunate enough to be sick should still be able to get health insurance. But as soon as you utter the phrase “pre-existing conditions,” it’s all political deadlock.

Democrats maintain that there should be mandated coverage for people who are already sick and therefore “uninsurable.” Republicans say that would be too expensive, usually with the phrases “socialized medicine” and “Obamacare” thrown in. The cost of caring for the expensive few shouldn’t burden the healthy many, they say. Surely, there can be a sort of monetary “pool” to take care of these “high-risk” individuals?

As it turns out, we don’t have to weigh one hypothetical health care system against another with the power of our imaginations alone. Minnesota used to have a “high-risk pool” for people with pre-existing conditions. Like most of the state’s health care systems, it went by a cumbersome acronym: MCHA (pronounced “EM-cha”) or the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association.

Read more: http://www.citypages.com/news/minnesota-already-had-a-high-risk-pool-and-it-didnt-fix-health-care/499692411