Let's get real here folks --- The reality is that *NOTHING* is going to pass that doesn’t allow for coverage of pre existing conditions.
We might want to tell ourselves that this is not how insurance works and give all the usual analogies with car insurance but ... Too many people have their lives on the line to give a fig about the economics, greater impact or ideological purity of *ANYTHING* that doesn’t mandate/provide coverage for people who would be excluded due to pre existing conditions.
I have a number of friends, co workers and general acquaintances who are reasonably conservative. However, due to job loss or such, could would not be covered and couldn’t afford to buy coverage with their conditions (some of which are their fault, some not).
I get the ideological, patriotic and economic arguments, but they simply don’t matter in the slightest if you’ve got cancer or a heart condition, always had coverage with your employer, and then got laid off or otherwise found yourself without insurance. Survival trumps everything. Acknowledging that reality would lead to something that might pass.
We might wish this were not so, but IT IS SO.