Health Insurance For Pre Existing Condition: How To Get One
Availing of health insurance is a problem for many Americans, with approximately 16% of Americans having no health insurance, that’s around 50 million Americans with no health insurance. Presently, health care costs in the United States continuously climb out of reach to low income Americans.
The problem of having no health insurance is exacerbated if you have a pre existing condition. Mot of the time, this will result in the rejection of an application for individual health insurance. Millions of uninsured individuals are facing serious health issues like heart disease, heart attack, diabetes, cancer, stroke, liver disease, AIDS, pregnancy, depression and kidney disease.
A pre-existing condition is any injury or sickness for which diagnosis has been made, treatment has been recommended, treatment has been rendered, or expenses have been incurred within a set amount of months prior to the effective date of coverage. It includes any condition manifesting itself in symptoms, which would cause a prudent person to seek medical advice.
Waiting to get sick before buying medical insurance is a problem because of the pre existing condition exclusion period imposed by health insurance companies. Under the pre existing condition exclusive period, the insurer will deny the claims pertaining to a medical problem for a certain period of time if the insured had a medical problem that exists at the time of the purchase of insurance.
One option to go that offers affordable premiums is the catastrophic health insurance from private health insurers. While it does not cover doctor visits or anything, it does help with hospital bills and other major expenses.
Another option is availing of a state insurance fund for people who are unable to obtain private coverage. While coverage is not as extensive as a private carrier, it would provide the insured with some catastrophic type coverage and give an option until the insured is able to find private coverage. This fund is separate from the Medicaid program so everyone should qualify for it. Information and more details can be availed from the Insurance Commissioner's Office in your area.
Another option is to become affiliated with some kind of group that offers its members medical insurance. For instance, the Foundation of Real Estate Appraisers (FREA) offers group insurance for all of its members. Real estate agents have similar organizations they can belong to. In addition, many professions have related clubs and organizations that offer health insurance. (Members of these groups are all considered health insurance leads.)
If you cannot find one related to either your or your husband's occupation, then starting up a small business like Mary Kay, Avon, Tupperware, anything that will allow you to apply to organizations for small business owners. Most of those organizations offer group health plans. As long as you try to obtain health insurance through a group plan, it is unlikely you will be denied. Most group plans are set up so that members, upon initial enrollment, cannot be denied.
Local county hospitals also have a program that is based on people's income to help those that fall between the income bracket of too low or too high to qualify for health insurance. The quality of care at county hospitals is usually excellent. So call around, this is a federally funded program, all over the country, and there are others.
Contacting Family Health Benefits Counselor at local county agencies can also help. They provide information, referral counseling and advocacy for families in order to obtain health care financing through public and federal programs. Some states also have a risk insurance plan, which will accept persons who have been denied insurance for reasons of pre-existing conditions or high-risk patients. Also, medical centers have a patient assistance program to help with the cost of medical bills. They can either take a percentage as payment in full or sometimes write off the entire bill if you are indigent.