Saturday, November 6, 2010

Do I have health insurance if my prexisting condition is not covered?

I'm 57 years old. My employer changed the type of health insurance we have from major medical to suplemental. I quite got a new job in 3 months I will have insurance but my high blood pressure , 220/100, and any thing related to it will not be covered for 15 months.
--------------------
(This answer assumes you are a U.S. resident.) When your previous group insurance coverages ended, you should have received a "Certificate of Creditable Coverage" from each insurer through the mail. The certificates explain that you can use them as proof of your previous group insurance; your new insurer must apply the number of months you were covered under your previous group plans against your current' plan's pre-existing condition exclusionary period. In other words, if your current plan has a 15-month pre-ex period and your two certificates show you were covered for 25 months, the pre-ex period under your new plan is completely extinguished. This means the new insurer MUST cover your pre-existing conditions. One thing to keep in mind: your previous group coverage cannot have been lapsed more than 63 days until you signed up for the new employer's plan. The 3-month waiting period CANNOT be used against you when calculating the 63 days. These protections are extended to you under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Here's an authoritative web page that describes your HIPAA rights: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consume… One final thing: you wrote that your new plan imposes a 15-month pre-ex period; I don't know whether this is a typo, but HIPAA only permits a 12-month pre-ex period IF you enroll when you first become eligible. From your description, it sounds as if you did this. If this was not a typo, I'd suggest you contact the U.S.D.O.L. by clicking on the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page I referred you to above.
Source

No comments:

Post a Comment