President Obama has made clear his goal for universal health care for all Americans. When he addressed the American Medical Association on Monday, he called for an elimination of insurers’ practice of denying those with pre-exisiting health conditions, which got him a huge applause. “This is personal for me. I will never forget watching my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final days, worrying about whether her insurer would claim her illness was a preexisting condition so it could get out of providing coverage. Changing the current approach to preexisting conditions is the least we can do – for my mother and every other mother, father, son, and daughter, who has suffered under this practice.” While Obama does have support on this idea from the AMA, insurance companies are very hesitant to change many of their practices. Rescission has been a fiery issue between Congress and the insurance companies. This practice effectively cancels the coverage of some sick individuals. Rescission is particularly damaging because patients have gotten used to having coverage, and suddenly it is dropped. “No one can defend, and I certainly cannot defend, the practice of canceling coverage after the fact,” Rep. Michael C. Burgess, of Texas , told the Los Angeles Times. “There is no acceptable minimum to denying coverage after the fact.” Insurers claim, however, that the practice needs to stay in place to protect themselves from those who lied or committed fraud to get policies. The practice certainly saves the companies money, as a congressional investigation found that the canceling of 20,000 people in a five year period allowed the companies to avoid paying $300 million in claims. The problem is that not all of these people committed fraud or lied to obtain coverage. Many were simply dismissed because of their costly health conditions. The question over whether or not rescission will be allowed to be practiced by insurance companies will be a great debate for a long time.