Re: OT: health insurance for individuals?

["Rob Hudson" <caveatrob -at- gmail -dot- com>]

You can carry your pre-existing condition to new insurance, and they
can't exclude you from coverage, but they can charge a premium for
that coverage and if you aren't part of a large group you wind up
paying a lot.

I just learned the other day that companies have to pay a decent
amount to even provide the option of a health savings account to their
employees, which is often what people use to offset high deductibles
and cover prescription drugs, glasses, some durable medical equipment,
etc.

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 8:10 PM, Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net> wrote:
>> From: voxwoman
>
>> The best thing to do is get the insurance while you are still
>> covered under
>> another policy.
>
> That is not a complete statement.  Individuals cannot get insurance for
> themselves while they still have access under an employer's scheme.  I
> recommended getting a job that provides insurance, maintaining coverage for
> the time required by the insurance company for individual coverage, and then
> quitting the job.  Also, COBRA benefits must be expired in many cases for
> individual insurance coverage.
>
>> Otherwise you've got a waiting period where
>> pre-existing
>> conditions are not covered at all (sometimes as long as 2
>> years). Continuous
>> coverage, even with different companies, lets you carry over your
>> preexisting condition (I think that's a Federal law - maybe
>> part of COBRA).
>
> ...in the gap between ineligibility from previous insurance to coverage with
> new insurance, from what I've read on the applications.
>
>> The second best thing to do is to make yourself a business
>> and get small
>> business insurance. It's generally cheaper than individual
>> insurance.
>
> That's true and I forgot about that option.  Carriers in my area require at
> least one employee who does not have coverage elsewhere.
>
> Lauren
>
>
>
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