North Carolina Health Insurance - Avoid Being Denied
One of the most disheartening moments in a person’s life has to be when they are denied North Carolina health insurance because of a preexisting condition. Even though you desperately need medical care in order to handle a chronic or serious condition, a health insurance company can deny you coverage because of it. Medical care is so expensive that, without insurance, a person can go bankrupt treating their health challenges. Luckily there is a clause in the HIPPA act of 1996 that will help many individuals and families switching from one plan to another avoid being denied coverage because of an existing medical condition.
It is called Creditable Coverage. This clause states that as long as a person does not go beyond 63 days without North Carolina health insurance, the time they had insurance will apply to any preexisting condition exclusion that an insurance company may levy against an applicant. For example, a person has insurance for two years. They leave one job and it is 30 days before they get another job with health coverage. Their new provider tells them that because of their prior medical condition they are required to wait 12 months before the condition would be covered. However, since it was only one month since the last time they had insurance, the provider must give them credit for the two years they had coverage which will negate the waiting period.
The grace period exists to prevent people who are switching health insurance coverage from being forced to wait another exclusionary period of time before their medical condition is covered by their plan. As you can imagine, you want to do everything you possibly can to avoid going beyond 63 days between coverage. If you go beyond the grace period, your new insurance company can subject you to a waiting period during which your medical expenses will come out of your pocket.
There are several things you can do to avoid going too long without health insurance. You can sign up for COBRA to continue your previous coverage. With this plan, you will have up to 18 months to switch to new coverage. The only disadvantage to using COBRA is that you would be responsible for the full cost of the premium which can be expensive. You can also purchase an individual health policy to tide you over. If your spouse has insurance, you can see if they will allow them to change to a family plan. To get a sense of all of your options, you will want to work with an experienced North Carolina health insurance agent who can provide good advice about what you should do.