U.S. bill would make insurers cover pre-existing ills

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation that would require health insurers to provide coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions was introduced in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday by Democratic lawmakers.

The measure is not expected to pass on its own, but its language or something similar could be folded into a sweeping healthcare overhaul expected to come before the House of Representatives and Senate by this summer.

"This is central part of healthcare reform," Senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee's subcommittee on health care, said in a conference call.

He noted that President Barack Obama supports eliminating exclusions based on pre-existing conditions, which are used by insurance companies to refuse cover to people who have a potentially expensive medical condition.

The insurance industry has said any mandate to insure people with pre-existing conditions should be coupled with a mandate for everyone to obtain insurance. Their fear is that people will wait until they become sick to sign up for insurance.

About 200 million Americans have private health insurance, including about 170 million with insurance provided through their employers.

Rockefeller, who is expected to play a key role in writing the healthcare legislation this year, said there are 133 million Americans with at least one chronic illness.

"It is wrong and impractical to commit ourselves to healthcare reform without addressing the faulty and ill-advised pre-existing condition exclusion," Representative Joe Courtney, the bill's chief House sponsor, said in a statement.

"This discriminatory practice prevents millions of hard-working Americans from changing or finding new jobs and in this economy that is just plain wrong."

(Reporting by Will Dunham and Donna Smith; Editing by Maggie Fox)