How To Choose A Affordable Health Care Insurance Plan For Your Company

“Im trying to get an individual policy. Ive put off buying a policy trothcause they cost so much. except for now Im pregnant (or Ive been diagnosed with an expensive illness) and I need health insurance. Ive applied to ample insurance companies, but they turn me down. What can I do now?”

This is one and only of the biggest problems with Americas present system for financing health care. – its hard to get insurance if you really need it.

If you arent eligible for insurance through your employer, you will need to purchase an individual policy. Applications for privately purchased health insurance policies are carefully checked to see if you will be profitable for the health insurance company. Theyll contact your doctors and get medical records, and look them over with a fine toothed comb. It is very imaginable that your pregnancy (or diabetes, heart problems, or even prior automobile accidents) will flag the underwriters to turn you down.

Some insurance companies will even turn down the father of an supposed baby, if the couple is wedded – this makes agreed the baby will not be automatically eligible for coverage when its born. A baby born with health subject could pile up thousands of dollars in medical bills, and this makes insurance companies nervous.

Even if youre issued an individual plan, there may be a one-year waiting period before any pregnancy-related costs or pre-existing degenerative diseases may be covered. Be sure to read the fine-print of your contract, if you are offered one. A pre-existing condition is usually had to be any illness or condition for which you have been treated in the past six to 12 months, or any condition for which a commendable person would seek treatment. If you think youre sick but you havent yet seen the doctor, you may still obtain your claims denied if the insurance company feels that you should have known about your illness before you applied for coverage.

Since you dont have time to lobby your congressperson to arrange the health care system and create universal health care, you need some on the spot solutions if youre already sick or pregnant. There may be options for you – but they arent perfect, and they may not be cheap.

If you have a low income you may be eligible for your states health plan or Medicaid. Many states are now financially strapped, just as you are, so they have very stringent eligibility requirements, and there is probably a waiting list. Be sure to check with your states diary to find out if you qualify.

If your income is too expensive to qualify for a state-sponsored plan, you may be eligible for your states high wager insurance pool. You do pay premiums for these plans, and the premiums may be fairly high. Basically, these plans combination together the high-risk individuals in the state, which allows each individual the coverage that they cant get through a private insurance plan.

To qualify for one of these high-risk plans you may need to come into sight that you have been rotated down by a private company, or an agent may be able to certify that you are likely to be turned down.

Unfortunately, your states high risk pool insurance may also deny claims for pre-existing conditions, including pregnancy, for six months or more. If this is the only policy you will be eligible for and youre already pregnant, apply as early as you conceivably can so that your delivery and nursery chamber charges will be covered. If you have been diagnosed with an expensive illness, such as cancer, you may need to pay all medical expenses yourself until the pre-existing condition exclusion period is over.

When I worked for a health insurance company, I always advised callers to seek the recommendation of an insurance agent if they felt they might not qualify for our individual policies. Agents are paid their commission by the insurance companies, so their services dont cost the customer added money. Agents also have a very good idea if the customers medical condition will disqualify them from coverage, and theyll be aware of the policies of all health insurance companies in the state. This means that theyll be able to pilot you to the states high risk insurance pool appropriately away, as an alternative of waiting for you to apply to the private insurance company and being denied coverage. If the states policy has a six month waiting period, and you already know youre pregnant, the extra month it takes to get an answer from a private insurer could put your delivery date past the high risk pools exclusionary period. The agents knowledge could save you thousands of dollars in denied claims.

The best advice (although its difficult to follow with todays high health insurance premiums) is to get a policy long before you ever get pregnant or sick. Or be employed by a company that offers group coverage. You may find that it pays to accept a lower wage in order to be eligible for a group policy without a pre-existing condition waiting period, but before you accept a job for this reason alone, check the fine print. In some states, even group policies can deny claims for pre-existing conditions, such as pregnancy, for a specified period of time.

People Who Can Afford Online Health Insurance And Refuse To Buy It

Filed under: Health Insurance

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