Need advice on switching Insurance with Crohn's please!

[Mary]

My husband is switching jobs and we have to pay Cobra for 3 months until his new Insurance kicks in. Will his new insurance pick me up? Or will it be pre-exitsing?

 

[Becky]

I believe as long as you do not have a lapse in coverage than it is not considered pre excisting. I went thru it a few years ago and it all worked out fine.

 

[annak87]

I thought a part of the new healthcare bill prohibits insurance companies from denying you because of a preexisting condition? Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it could be something to check into if they would happen to deny you. Good luck, it stinks that in the midst of something as rough as crohns, insurance is such a worry for so many people.

 

[HeatherMN]

Becky is right, as long as you don't let coverage lapse inbetween, you should still be covered. Your new insurance company may ask for a letter of verification that you haven't had a break in coverage. I had to produce that after my husband and I were married, so I could be covered on his insurance.

The pre-existing condition change in the healthcare reform bill won't take effect until 2014 for adults. They can no longer deny for pre-existing conditions in children as of Sept 2010. Praying that this reform will still stand at that point!! We need relief from our insurance woes

 

[hindyg]

Correct - you should still be covered. Be assertive and fight if they give you trouble. Hoping it's a smooth process for you.

 

[endibd]

Good luck with the insurance. Kind of sad the state of things in the US and many countries. Insurance (in any form) isn't the answer, universal, government coverage is.

Best thing you could probably do is tell everyone your story and raise awareness of the impacts on people's lives that diseases can cause and how close people are to losing everything if they get sick.

I'm still baffled by people who oppose universal health care, especially those who are working people who aren't rolling in $$$.

 

[dreamintwilight]

Yeah, usually the period in between is like 90 days or something. You should double check with your new insurance to see what their policy is. They can tell you how many days exactly you are allowed. But, I'm thinking since you will be on COBRA insurance, that may mean you are still fine. Because you have some sort of coverage. But, you can contact your new provider and they should be able to tell you what their limit is.

If it's an HMO though, they don't care about pre-existing conditions or certificates of health coverage. They're usually more money for premiums, but worth it! I LOVE my HMO! But yeah, definitely double check on the certificates of health coverage too. One of my old plans required those and it was SUCH a pain obtaining those and then sending them to my new provider. Make copies and keep track of the dates you sent and ask for signature confirmation. They tried to tell me they never got our certificates and we sent them twice.

Good luck!

 

[ameslouise]

Good luck, Mary. Hope all goes smoothly for you in the transition!

- Amy

 

[slightlysilly]

Your preexisting condition doesn't matter if it's a group policy. My husband and I are small business owners and we have a group policy under the chamber of commerce. If you were trying to go on the open market to get insurance, they will underwrite you and they can flat out deny you. I goggled it and basically I come to find that people with IBD are essentially uninsurable without a group policy.

It's an interesting discussion though... im surprised it's not discussed more here... maybe because there's a lot of Canadians and people from Europe here?

 

[COOK620]

My daughter is living in Wisc and moving to Illinois and trying to find a job as a speech pathologist -she has had Crohn's for over 10yrs, should she consider a HMO? Is there anyone who has started their own business and able to get insurance?