Purchasing an insurance policy can be a rather daunting task and some consider it a necessary evil. Before being approved by the insurance companies, our application will be evaluated by the underwriter. In this case, the underwriter will check our medical history and other essential factors. In this case, we should be honest about everything and we will be required to disclose our pre-existing conditions. This is essential because the underwriter will find out about our condition anyway. If we fail to mention our condition, it is possible that we will get denied coverage. And even underwriters fail to catch our pre-existing conditions because we don’t mention it, we are still not on the clear. It’s because, the underwriter and other involved parties will re-evaluate our history again. In this case, they will a bit more closely and they could find out about our pre-existing conditions. In this case, they will not only deny our claim but may also accuse us guilty of fraud. We could be required to pay a hefty fine and there’s a possible legal consequence.
Many insurance companies don’t insure our pre-existing conditions or provide coverage only with much higher premiums. Before signing the contract, we should get much more detailed information of things that are considered as pre-existing conditions. Once the initial examination phase ends, we will proceed with the next step. Of course, rates are essential and we should remember to get quotes on health insurances from different companies. We should obtain all quotes, so we are able to see the amount and type of coverage in different categories. In this case, a real comparison can be performed only if policies are based on identical coverage. We should compare apples to apples whenever possible. If we get quotes that seem to be significantly less than those provided by most insurers, we should make sure that they are legitimate and offered by trustworthy insurance companies. We should directly ask the insurance company why they offer such a low premium. Their answer could be related to how they concentrate themselves on a particular type of coverage, so they can offer much lower premiums than others.
Many independent insurance agents are exhaustible sources of information and they can provide a wealth of details about the whole industry. More importantly, they could offer us feedback on specific insurance company, their customer services and insurance products. Whatever coverage we decide to choose, it would be our family that will have to live with all the consequences. So, it is imperative for us to think through our needs and wants before we decide on the kind of insurance coverage to choose. We may need to question ourselves how these plans will help us in the future. If we have favourite doctors, we should know whether it is possible to include them in our insurance coverage. Family doctors may have known our conditions for many years and it may not be a good idea to switch to different doctors.