Insurance coverage question

anonemouse · November 3, 2006

My brother's girlfriend works as a nutritionist for a bariatric surgeon. She has said that she sees people that can't get health insurance now because they had weight-loss surgery. If your current insurance covers your surgery, but you have to change insurance afterwards for some reason, can you get insurance? I have also heard people say that as long as you get insurance within 60 days of your old coverage ending, the new company can't consider it a pre-existing condition and therefore deny you.

I need to know because I will be dropped from my parents' insurance plan when I turn 24 next August, but I am hoping to have surgery before the end of this year, or at least before my classes start again at the end of January. I don't want to be uninsurable at the age of 24.

Alexandra · November 3, 2006

Laurend, the answers to your question vary from state to state. Generally speaking, if you get insurance through an employer's group plan, you can't be denied and pre-existing condition exclusions are limited. It's only individual policies that can be denied based on health underwriting, and regulations about that vary considerably depending on where you live. Some states have guarnateed-issue policies that must be available to anyone who's eligible, but they can be expensive.

What state are you in? If you ask your question in your state forum here you may hear from someone who knows the answer where you are.