Honesty Counts When Buying Health Insurance

No one likes filling out forms, especially when it comes to buying health insurance. However, the forms are necessary to make sure you get the right kind of health insurance for yourself, or for your family. Inaccuracies in any aspect of your form can cause the insurance to be canceled.

For example, consider a person who is aware of a medical issue such as a growth on their jaw. They don’t presently have insurance and know that getting the medical treatment for their problem is going to be very expensive. They decide to apply for health insurance.

While filling out the application form, they answer “none” to the question that inquires about the existence of any pre-existing conditions. Based on the information in the form, the insurance company then assesses what kind of insurance package would suit this person and their family. Since the company assumes there are no pre-existing conditions (based on the applicant’s deceptive answer), they assign the applicant to a category where they would be paying lower health care premiums.

Let’s assume, then, that after successfully applying for health insurance, this person returns to the doctor and asks about surgery for the growth on the jaw. Surgery is booked and the person has the growth removed from the jaw, potentially facing more surgery and facial reconstruction later. At this point, problems emerge when the health insurance company/carrier is billed.

When the bill for this surgery reaches the insurance carrier, the first thing they check is when the insurance was applied for and under what terms and conditions. The next thing they notice is that the application indicates that there were no pre-existing conditions. It’s not a stretch to assume that the applicant must have known about the jaw condition prior to filling out the form, as growths don’t happen overnight.

The only option open to the insurance company at this point is to cancel the insurance and refund what premiums have been paid. The policy is being canceled because the health insurance was obtained under false pretenses. There was a pre-existing health issue that should have been declared. Had this person only been truthful up front, they could have been covered. Granted, they might have been subject to higher rates, but that’s much better than facing a mountain of medical bills with no insurance safety net.

Trying to save money on health insurance premiums by not truthfully and completely filling out your health insurance application will result in canceled health insurance later. Always tell insurance companies the whole story. There are other packages available, such as a major risk plan that can be offered instead.