Medical Insurance Pre Existing Condition: The Long And Short Of A Preexisting Condition
A pre existing condition is any injury or sickness for an individual has been treated or diagnosed during the past 3 to 12 months.
Medical insurance for an individual with a pre existing condition is difficult, but not impossible. If medical insurance is available, the cost of medical insurance for someone with pre existing conditions would result in high medical insurance premiums. This added cost would result in a significant number of uninsured with low income individuals and enough to dramatically impact that person's life.
One of the best and surest way to secure medical insurance for a pre existing condition is getting an employer-provided group medical insurance. Some individuals with a family member who has a serious medical condition, consider access to group medical insurance as the most important factor in evaluating job perks or compensation. There are limited chances of securing a group medical that covers pre existing condition if no one in the family is employed or employable.
In case that group medical insurance is not available, there are state risk pools that provide medical insurance for pre existing conditions. However, this type of insurance is very expensive and enrollment is limited. There are also cost-subsidized plans for applicants with a lower income and minimal assets at the local welfare office of the state insurance department.
In case you lose health insurance because of a job loss or a change in employer, you should not allow a gap in medical insurance of more than two months. Use short term health insurance during the required waiting period for other insurance plans. Under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the continuity of coverage rules then apply to the insurance plan even though you were covered by a less expensive insurance policy during the waiting period. After the switch, the new, more expensive medical insurance plan will cover pre existing conditions immediately. Otherwise, you have to wait for up to six months after the new insurance is in effect before the costs of pre existing medical conditions are covered.
In order to save money on medical insurance, you should explore the option of enrolling family members on different health insurance plans. The best heath plans choice for one family member with medical insurance problems is usually not the best choice for the others. This is because family members with pre existing condition are best covered by the more expensive state risk pool while relatively healthy family members are best covered by inexpensive insurance plans.
You should also explore limited benefit insurance plans. Under the limited benefit insurance plans, all applicants are accepted regardless of medical history. All pre existing medical conditions are covered after the policy has been in force for 1 to 12 months. However, these are limited benefit plans that do not cover the full cost billed by medical service providers and coverage is not available to residents of all states. These limited benefit medical insurance policies may be overlapped and combined to provide a higher overall level of protection.
In order to help reduce out of pocket expenses for health care, you should also explore the option of using a low cost PPO discount card.