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If you are unemployed or don’t have health insurance through your employer, financial advisers suggest that one of your top priorities should be getting health insurance on your own. But what if you take this advice and then are turned down for health insurance coverage? If you are denied health insurance, don’t give up without a fight. Instead, try the following.
Find out why you were turned down for health insurance.
It is not unheard of that health insurance coverage is denied because of an error in the information provided to the insurance company or some other mistake, so your first move should be to find out the reason for the denial and whether the information it was based on is accurate.
If you believe that you were turned down for health insurance because of a mistake in your medical history, get your medical records.
Health care providers are required to give you copies of your records. Check them carefully for errors and, if you find one, work with the health care provider to get it corrected. Also, ask that health care provider to give you a letter detailing the correction or, even better, to contact the insurance company that denied you coverage and provide the corrected information to them.
Get your Medical Information Bureau (MIB) report.
The MIB gathers information that is used by insurance companies when deciding whether to issue an insurance policy, including a health insurance policy. Their records may include information on your credit; medical conditions; medical tests; health-related habits, such as smoking and drug use; work or avocations (such as high-risk jobs); and auto records (for example, accidents or tickets). You are entitled to one free copy of you MIB report annually. It is a good idea to get it before you apply for health insurance, but you definitely should request it if you are denied coverage, since information in this report could be the reason for the denial. If you find an error in your report, notify the MIB and request a correction.
Research insurance company policies on pre-existing conditions.
If you have a pre-existing condition that might result in insurance coverage being denied, do some research on individual insurance companies’ policies concerning your condition. Some may be more willing than others to accept you, although there could be restrictions on your coverage related to your pre-existing condition or you could be charged a higher premium. You are better off applying first to insurance companies that are most likely to issue you a policy, since being denied coverage by one company can, in some cases, hurt your chances of getting coverage from another company.
Keep trying.
If you are denied health insurance coverage by one company, don’t stop there. Apply with others, since they don’t all have the same parameters for offering insurance. Therefore, just because one or more health insurers won’t cover you doesn’t mean that the next one you apply to won’t.
Get your pre-existing condition under control. .
If you have a pre-existing condition, if possible, take steps to get it under control. Granted, this isn’t always an option. However, if you have a condition, like high cholesterol, high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes, which can be controlled or improved by lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthier diet and getting more exercise, then by all means do so. Improvement in your condition could help you get health insurance and, even if it doesn’t, it could improve your overall health and help to minimize your health care expenses.
Investigate high-risk insurance pools.
If you simply can’t get health insurance on the open market, investigate your state’s high-risk insurance pool, if it has one, or the national high-risk insurance pool. You may have to meet certain qualifications to get insurance through these pools, possibly including having been without health insurance for an extended period of time, and they can be expensive, but they offer a last-resort option for those who simply can’t get insurance elsewhere.
More from this contributor
How Young Adults without Health Insurance Can Save on Health Care Costs
Choosing a Health Insurance Policy
First Person: Insurance Coverage and Young Adults