Don’t Get Declined For Health Insurance
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It is important when searching for an individual health insurance policy to understand the health insurance company’s underwriting criteria and their process. The reason for this is more than just not to have wasted your time by applying to a carrier that is going to decline your application, but because of that very outcome, a declination of coverage.
This result serves then as a red flag to other insurance companies with respect to providing you coverage. There are even carriers that do not go one any further with an applicant once they learn that they have been declined for coverage in the past. The reason for the declination is not even looked into, for the worry that they might be providing coverage to high utilizer.
Yes, I agree this is unfair but it is the reality in which we live today. Therefore, it is important to understand a carriers process. It is better to not even apply for coverage if you along with your agent believe that due to your specific medical conditions, age, medical history, etc. will have a good chance of being declined.
There are many carriers available today and only a good experienced insurance agent can help you navigate these rough waters. The cost of the policy doesn’t change anyway. It remains the same, so why not utilize (no pun intended) their services to your benefit (again, no pun intended).
Here’s to your good health and coverage!
C. Steven Tucker | April 17th, 2009 at 10:15 am #
Excellent advise again Rene! What should also be noted is the MIB (Medical Information Bureau). Once an applicant is declined, the majority of Health Insurance carriers place a permanent record of this decline (and the reasons for it) on to your MIB report. This can then cause problems in the future when an applicant attempts to re-apply with a different carrier.
Utilizing the expertise of an experience broker can avoid such problems all together. As you aptly mentioned, an experience broker will be able to inform the consumer as to whether or not they will qualify for said product before an application process even begins. Every consumer can obtain a copy of their MIB report for a small fee by visiting the Medical Information Bureau’s web site here: http://www.mib.com/html/request_your_record.html
Just like a credit report, an MIB report is an invaluable tool to help clear up “negative reports” or CPT (Medical procedural code) mistakes that may have been entered in to an applicant’s medical records file by error. Even legitimate issues can be resolved (e.g. a temporary elevated liver enzyme test, negative pap, etc.) that may have warranted a decline at the time, but have long since been resolved.
One must take a proactive role in maintaining the accuracy of information that has been recorded in their medical record files. Doctor’s make mistakes just like everyone else. More often than not, a decline is related to a temporary situation or incorrect information. Without the help of an experienced broker these issues (like negative credit history reports) can continue to haunt one until they are resolved.