Health Insurance for Special Situations

Two weeks after "Cover the Uninsured Week" MedSave.com releases a state-by-state resource chart designed to help online shoppers find health insurance for difficult situations.

June 9, 2004 -- Finding affordable health insurance can be difficult for people with specific medical conditions or other concerns flagged by most heath insurance companies. Most of these individuals who need fast affordable coverage will keep the policy for a year or less. Limited term coverage and limited benefit health insurance are attractive options available at only a fraction of the cost of other health insurance plans. Most low cost health insurance plans exclude certain individuals from eligibility so these potential members find themselves searching the Web to try to find a suitable health insurance plan. Regrettably many wind up enrolling in health plans that are too good to be true, and are really little more than online marketing scams. (Other articles by the author on health plan scams may be found at www.tonynovak.com ). MedSave.com provides state-by-state resource listings of many low cost / high quality health insurance plans.

This article focuses on a few specialty health insurance plans available in four common types of difficult situations:
1.    Applicant who is overweight, diabetic, has high cholesterol or high blood pressure
2.    Applicant is not a U.S. citizen
3.    Applicant needs insurance coverage for a pre-existing medical condition
4.    Immediate proof of coverage and ID card are required

While there may be more than one insurance company available to cover each situation, this chart is limited to the preferred choice in each situation. Preferences are based on quality of coverage, price and ease of online application. In some cases no suitable health insurance carrier is available. Each of the companies listed has established a reputation for providing quality service and secure online enrollment. Most of these policies have a maximum length of coverage per policy, but you may re-enroll for another policy (except in CO, GA, and MN) to continue coverage for longer period of time.

A few notes about using the products referred to in this table: Assurant refers to Assurant Health, formerly known as Fortis Health and John Alden Insurance, the largest U.S. provider of specialty medical insurance. TIG uses an online pricing system that redirects some users to less expensive coverage that might not offer as liberal eligibility standards. If this happens, it will be necessary to contact the benefit enroller or use a mail-in application. Basic Health Insurance, as the name implies, provides only limited benefits. Whenever possible, it is wise to combine this with other insurance.

As a last resort, each state has at least open enrollment health plan available to all residents. Information is available through the state insurance department. (Contact information is available for each state at www.MedSave.com). This state-mandated open enrollment plan might be very expensive so it makes sense to exhaust all other possibilities first. These state-mandated open enrollment insurance plans are not available on the Internet, so a telephone call or personal visit will be required to obtain enrollment information. Many of these open enrollment plans are handled through local Blue Cross / Blue Shield Associations.

MedSave.com Specialty Product Availability Chart

State of Residence    Coverage for Pre-existing Conditions    Previously Declined for Coverage    Non-insulin diabetic, high cholesterol, high blood pressure    Non-US citizen    Need ID card Immediately
AK    Basic Health Insurance1        TIG3    Assurant    TIG
AL    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic2    TIG    Assurant    TIG
AR        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
AZ    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
CA        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
CO            TIG    Assurant    TIG
CT        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
DC    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
DE    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
FL        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
GA    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
HI    Basic Health Insurance        TIG    Assurant    TIG
IA    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic              TIG    TIG    TIG
ID        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
IL    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
IN    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
KS        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
KY    Basic Health Insurance        TIG    Assurant    TIG
LA        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
MA                        
MD        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
ME            TIG    Assurant    TIG
MI    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
MN            TIG    Assurant    TIG
MO    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
MS    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
MT    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
NC        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
ND    Basic Health Insurance        TIG    Assurant    TIG
NE    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
NJ                   
NH            TIG    Assurant    TIG
NM        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
NV        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
NY                   
OK    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
OH        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
OR            TIG    Assurant    TIG
PA    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
RI    Basic Health Insurance        TIG    Assurant    TIG
SC    Basic Health Insurance    Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
SD            TIG    Assurant    TIG
TN        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
TX        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
UT            TIG    Assurant    TIG
VA        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
VT                   
WA            TIG    Assurant    TIG
WI        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
WV        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG
WY        Celtic    TIG    Assurant    TIG

A red block indicates that no suitable coverage is available.

Footnotes:
1 Basic Health Insurance covers all pre-exiting conditions after 6 months.

2 Celtic does not allow re-enrollment but a second option is available through TIG. This plan allows enrollment to those who have been previously been declined for health insurance as long as the decline was not within the past 12 months.

3 All insurance plans issued online by HPA Inc. including TIG allow immediate printing of the ID card at the time of online enrollment.