When Health Insurance Coverage Is Out of Reach?

I am a relatively healthy individual. I haven?t had the flu in more than 10 years. I haven?t had bronchitis since Junior High School. My blood pressure is low. And I?m relatively young (I intend to be 29 for the rest of my life). But, I do have a slight herniation in my lower back between discs L5 and S1. I have allergies that sometimes result in moderate asthma attacks. And my first pregnancy resulted in a total cost of roughly $67,000 because of pre-term labor. Doctors and Insurance companies consider me to be ?high risk? because of the pre-term labor and delivery of my son a month prior to his due date.

When my husband changed jobs, his new employer started the process to get us insured through the company?s group policy. We had to fill out some medical questionnaires and honestly we didn?t think much of them. We?d done it before (prior to my issues with pregnancy and the discovery of the herniation in my back), then came the phone call from my husband?s boss that although the insurance carrier would carry us, our rates would be MUCH higher than originally anticipated because of my medical history. He couldn?t foot the bill for the excess so we would need to. We got off lucky because our family was getting insurance through a group policy and we had enough income at the time to cover the higher premium. Had we been on our own, we?d have been turned down. Especially since I neglected to mention that while all this was transpiring, I was pregnant with our second.

For those who are getting insurance coverage through an employer?s group policy, the greatest issue might be the increased premium. But, the real snag comes for those who are responsible for finding and maintaining their own health insurance policy. Individual Insurance Policies come under a lot more scrutiny than group policies. And you might be amazed at the number of people who are willing to pay for insurance, if only they could find a company to cover them.

If you happen to find yourself in a situation where your rates have been increased because of an ongoing medical condition or if you can?t get coverage at all, you might want to look into a fee-for-service plan. These plans are not insurance and because of that, there are no medical questionnaires. All ongoing medical issues are accepted, there are no waiting periods, no exclusions, the savings are immediate, and the monthly membership fee is nominal. These plans include everything from doctors, to dentists, to hospitalization. They partner wonderfully with Health Savings Accounts and they are gaining in popularity.

The easiest way to explain how a fee-for-service plan works is to compare it to the grocery store savings card. So long as you present that card when you purchase your groceries, you get the sales for the week. Without the card, you will pay full price. Fee-for-service plans work the same way. When you pay the bill for your service, presenting your membership card gains you access to pre-negotiated, steeply reduced fees. The savings can exceed 80% off the usual and customary fees. It is also important to know that the savings are immediate, which means you don?t have to pay full price and wait to be reimbursed.

If you find that health insurance is out of reach for yourself and your family, do yourself a favor and research Consumer Driven Healthcare. High quality options are available for everyone if you are willing to look.




Relevant Links:
find affordable health insurance

fortis health insurance quote