What if I am turned down; how can I get health insurance coverage?
Health insurance can protect you when illness or injury prevents you from working or results in an expensive medical bill. Having coverage is very important for individual people and for families. That’s why getting turned down for health insurance can get be frustrating and frightening. You may begin to wonder what you are going to do. Often, we can’t pay the medical bills if no one is there to help us. Let’s look at some facts.
You’ve been turned down for health insurance.
Chances are that if you’ve been turned down for health insurance, it’s because you have a pre-existing health condition or you have an unhealthy lifestyle, including smoking, excessive drinking, or poor eating habits. Health insurers are out to make money. So, chances are that if you have a serious medical condition, you won’t find health insurance coverage easily.
Alternatives if you have been turned down for health insurance.
If you’re worried, don’t be. There is a way to get health insurance coverage even if you have been turned down before. You can access a “High Risk Pool” for health insurance.
“High Risk Pools”
Before you can be accepted into a “High Risk Pool” for health insurance, you have to meet the following conditions:
- A person would have to be turned down by one or more health insurance companies and be able to show proof that they were turned down.
- If a person has a health insurance plan, they must prove they are receiving a higher premium because of their illness
- A person must be a resident of the state where they are seeking medical insurance. Some states offer reciprocity which means that if a person moves to another state that participates in reciprocity also, the benefits may transfer from one state to the next.
- Most people who are eligible for Medicare or Medicaid will not be able to enter into the ‘pool’. Some states have become more lenient, however.
- Some states do exclude certain medical conditions.
So being turned down for health insurance is a set back, but certainly not the end of the world. It will just mean some more work for you in securing a health insurance plan that you can afford and that will cover you until perhaps your situation changes.
