How Can I Get Health Insurance For a Pre-Existing Condition?

The rising of health care costs has become a terrible problem for many people nowadays. Furthermore there is a fact that not everyone can be accepted by the insurance companies to get health insurance if they have pre-existing conditions. Insurance companies don’t want to insure ill people because they know it is going to cost them a lot of money. Although there are insurers in the market who are willing to provide them insurance coverage, there are certain restrictions on it.

Let’s take a closer look on it. Pre-existing conditions are a common technical term in insurance. They are health conditions that have existed prior to the date the client signs up for a health insurance plan. In another words, they are conditions which the client has already received medical consultation or treatment from doctor in the past or the client is receiving the treatment presently prior to his or her enrollment in a new medical insurance plan offered by the insurance provider.

This condition in particular may prevent the person from obtaining health insurance coverage or most likely the person will be charged a costly premium in order to obtain insurance coverage,

There are various forms of pre-existing conditions. Some common examples are obesity, high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, heart problems, arthritis, cancer, depression and other severe health problems. Pregnancy is also listed as one of the conditions even without any prior treatment.

Every insurance company has its own list of pre-existing conditions based on its own standards set for the insurance coverage. Therefore, all insurance companies have the rights to decline the coverage if they think that the client’s pre-existing situation is considered too risky for them. However, there are still some insurance providers who are willing to provide the coverage.

Obtaining an individual health insurance when he or she has a pre-existing condition is tough and challenging but it is not impossible. The following are some useful notes for those who intend to go for health insurance.

When someone who has pre-exiting conditions intends to obtain health insurance plan, he or she must first consult the licensed insurance agent to get better understanding of the health plan options offered in the market. It is definitely necessary for the policy purchasers to know whether they are really qualified for the health care coverage.

The insurance agent would provide a clear explanation on the “Exclusion Page” of the policy for you. You should find out more details when you have the particular condition.

You should get yourself prepared that you need to pay a higher premium if you really want to obtain a health insurance with your current condition. It is quite common for the insurance companies who are willing to accept the pre-existing conditions to increase the premium to about 20% to 40% to cover their risk.
There is another consideration you need to make when comes to temporary rider and permanent rider.

Some insurance providers would put either a temporary rider or a permanent rider on your policy when you have certain existing condition. For temporary rider, it could be a 3-year rider on your insurance policy where the insurance companies do not cover your condition for the first three years of the policy. After the duration, your condition will be fully covered.

For permanent rider, the insurance companies will cover everything excluding your pre-existing condition permanently. This might not sound good to you, but looking from the long term perspective, it is still beneficial for you as you will be insured for everything except your pre-stated condition.

To sum up, you still stand a high chance to obtain health insurance for a pre-existing condition.