California Individual Health Insurance

What is there to know about California Individual Health Insurance?

Quite a bit, acutally.  The laws which govern individual health insurance are made by each particular state and your protections vary from state to state.  Individual health insurance tends to be more expenisve in states which impose stricter conditions on health insurance companies, but it also tends to more available and perhaps more advantageous to policy holders in some ways.  Between the two extremes, where does California fall, you might be wondering.  Somewhere in the middle but tending more toward being slightly more consumer friendly than other states.

California is not a Guaranteed Issue state which means that you have to medically qualify for individual health insurance unless benefits from California's High Risk Pool have been exhausted in which case you will be eligible for one of two standardized plans offered by each California health insurance carrier.  State law also does not permitt insurance companies to place an Elimination Rider on an individual health insurance policy.  The Look Back period on individual health insurance in California is only 6 months which also happens to be the length of the Exclusion Period.

Why Individual Health Insurance Makes Sense for More and More People in California

Everyone in California has heard about the escalating cost of health insurance.  Every one has felt the pain including many small and medium sized employers many of whom have either cut back on offering health insurance benefits or don't offer them at all.  It is estimated that only 60 percent of employers still offer benefits in fact.  For this reason, many people have had to look elsewhere to get their health insurance needs taken care of and for many people that place is the individual health insurance market.  Below are some common questions that people have about individual health insurance.

Where can I find the cheapest individual health insurance plan in California?

Individual health insurance in California will cost the same amount no matter who you go.  Not even a particular health insurance company can sell at a discount.  One companies plan might be more affordable than another companies plan for a set of benefits that are roughly equal so it is important to compare.

Can my California individual health insurance policy be cancled if I submit a major claim?

No.  You policy will not be canceled if you submit a claim, even if it happens to be a very expensive one.

Will my premiums go up because I've submitted a big claim?

This will never be the reason for a premium increase.

Will I have to take a physical before qualifying for individual health insurance?

No.  This is not a requirement.  However sometimes insurance companies will want to recent blood pressure and cholesterol readings.  If you don't have any that are recent they may require you to have these things done before processing your application.

What is the underwriting process for Individual health insurance?

The first thing you must do is fill out an application for health insurance.  Before you begin, you may want to collect information relating to where you receive health care services, i.e., doctor's office address, doctor's name, etc.  You will also want your current health insurance policy in front of you if you have one since you will be asked when coverage under your current plan began.  Once you have completed your application, ideally you will want to send it to an agent if you're filling it out on paper (recommended).  An agent can then review it for accuracy and completion.  Once it has been reviewed, your agent should send it off to the health insurance company that you have selected to begin the underwriting process.

You should expect this process to take at least 3 weeks all the while knowing that it could be up to 6 weeks.  It would not at all be uncommon either for the health insurance company request medical records from your physicians office