What Factors Affect Minnesota Individual Health Insurance?
When looking for individual health insurance, several factors should be considered before selecting a policy. There are the differences between HMO and PPO type plans, the level of out of pocket costs (annual deductibles and co-payments), and the financial strength of the insurance provider to consider. But, possibly, the most important criterion to impact your coverage is the insurance company's practices on medical underwriting of new applicants.
The medical underwriting requirement for individual insurance policies is very different from what occurs in group health care programs. In accordance with the law, in a group insurance plan, there can be no discrimination in coverage levels applied to any member of the group based on that member's health status. In contrast, for individual insurance plans, discrimination based on an individual's health status is actively practiced today and is totally legal! If a new applicant for an individual insurance policy has a disability or existing medical condition, the insurance company is free to refuse coverage to the applicant or may offer only coverage that excludes the health disability or condition.
This practice occurs because of the medical underwriting of each new health insurance policy which applies to most new policies purchased in the individual insurance marketplace. What the concept of medical underwriting really means is that the insurance company is analyzing the potential financial risk under the new policy due to the health status of the individual. When applying for new health coverage, consumers should always call the medical underwriting staff of the insurance company first to learn how they treat various health issues.