Buying health insurance as part of a group plan when you’re fully employed is normally at a lower rate than independent coverage. If you’re between jobs, and can not continue with your former plan, a new group health plan may not be an option. If you decide to work as an independent consultant between full-time jobs, you’ll notice a sharp rate increase if/when you buy individual health insurance coverage.
While individual health insurance plans are purchased directly from carriers, leaving out the employer middle man, they do not offer the fuller range of benefits and lower rates associated with the typical workplace group plan. However, individual plans may cover you, your spouse, and your children. The two other main methods to get an individual health insurance plan when you’re not fully employed with a group health plan are to obtain either “short-term” and/or “catastrophic” coverage.
“Medically underwritten” individual plans allow the insurer to reject your application or attach exclusions to your policy if you have a “prior existing condition”. So there is no guarantee that an insurer will accept you for an individual policy. Under “Guaranteed Issue” laws, some states require that health insurance carriers issue you a policy, no matter what medical problems you have. Do your homework and check the list of “Guaranteed Issue” laws for your state. The Kaiser Family Foundation has published a list of these laws.
Even though people enrolled in individual health insurance plans pay more as they grow older and more prone to illness, don’t let that tempt you into to going without coverage. Even if you’re healthy you could have a serious or near-fatal accident and be forced in “medical bankruptcy” as so many millions of others are each year.
Keep in mind, if you go without insurance for 63 days or more, a time period set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), you’ll lose your rights to coverage of pre-existing conditions.
If you’re uninsured and have a “pre-existing condition”, you may feel like a reject from the health insurance market. It may seem to be impossible or unaffordable. But there are practical ways you may be in a position to manage to get coverage.
Double check the facts in your state because, in some states, self-employed sole proprietors are eligible to buy independent health insurance at the premium rate of a “group of one”. Even if you are a home-based businessperson you may do so, if you can show that you’ve been in business for 30 days or more.
If the state in which you live does not offer these “group of one” insurance policies, you may still qualify for a group rate if you own a business and have at least one partner or employee. Is your spouse helping you with your home-based business? Then you qualify as a two-person business, and are eligible for a group rate and a group policy.
If you’re moving on from full-time employment with an existing group health plan, ask the employer’s insurer to convert your policy to an individual health insurance plan. Your rate will be higher than your employer’s group plan, but that way you can secure a health coverage plan. This is extremely important if you have existing medical conditions. Also check to see if your spouse has a group plan at work, and find out if they can add you onto it.
Looking to find the best deal on Guaranteed Individual Health Insurance? Then visit here to find the best advice on Gauranteed Issue Health Insurance for you and yours.
categories: Guaranteed Issue, Guaranteed Issue Law, pre-existing condition, group-of-one, group-of-one insurance, individual health insurance, group health plan, short-term health, catastrophic health plan, medical health insurance, medically underwrittten
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