Alternative Health Plans That Cover Pre-Existing Conditions

If you look hard enough, you will find a health plan that covers your pre-existing condition. Depending on your situation, you might have to take immediate action to preserve coverage, or you may have to wait six to 18 months (assuming your condition does not require continuing care in the meanwhile) before your new policy covers your condition.

Involuntarily Terminated

• If you lost your coverage because you were involuntarily terminated, take immediate action to replace the coverage. Many states require health insurance companies to accept applicants who have had group coverage for their conditions for at least 18 months with no lapse of coverage longer than 63 days. Equally important, if the new insurance has a waiting period (and most will), every contiguous month you had coverage for your condition reduces the waiting period by an equal length of time.

COBRA Coverage

• The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) lets you keep your current group coverage for up to 18 months after leaving a job. COBRA requires that you pay both your own and your employer's premiums, so it will be costly. However, if your employer terminated you as part of a layoff between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides a subsidy that will pay 65 percent of your COBRA premiums for nine months.

HIPAA Coverage

• Congress designed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to help those who have maintained health insurance coverage but who now are unable to keep or get medical health insurance. The government guarantees the underwriting of HIPAA individual health insurance plans. Otherwise, they are like regular plans. If you are HIPAA eligible, the insurer will write a health policy that includes coverage for your pre-condition.

Never Insured

• Unfortunately, if you have not had health insurance covering your pre-existing condition or have been uninsured, none of the options above are available to you. Rather, you must find a policy on the open market (typically with higher premiums, co-pays, deductibles and a waiting period) through a health insurance broker or company. Companies impose waiting periods to prevent people from waiting until they are already sick to apply for coverage. If you cannot find a policy on the open market, you will have to consider purchasing health insurance from your state's high-risk pool, where premiums may be up to 200 percent above those of a standard policy.

High-Risk Pools

• State-sponsored high-risk health insurance provides coverage to residents who cannot purchase health insurance policies any other way. Private health insurers administer these "pools." Typically, state high-risk pools impose a six to 12-month waiting period. For more information on your state's high-risk insurance, contact your states insurance commissioner's office.