Why Are Diabetics Denied Health Insurance?
Diabetes is a condition that affects millions of Americans. If not treated properly, diabetes can lead to many serious health problems. Some include blindness, kidney failure, seizures and even heart attacks. Diabetes can be managed with the proper health care treatmetn, but costs can be enormous if health insurance is not available. This is because diabetics are typically excluded from coverage on individual health insurance policies.
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Individual Polices
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Most individual health insurance polices include preexisting exclusions, which are used to deny coverage to people with certain types of medical conditions including diabetes. Individual policies come in many forms, depending on who is selling the policy. Most private insurers that sell an individual health insurance policy will deny coverage for a diabetic because diabetics are expensive to insure. If not denied coverage, a diabetic usually still cannot afford the cost of a health insurance policy premium.
Group Plans
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Most group health plans, like those provided by an employer, cannot deny coverage to people who have a preexisting condition such as diabetes. A group plan can include a waiting period before coverage can begin, but it cannot exclude any eligible employee from coverage. A group health plan is one of the best options for a diabetic who wants to prevent being denied health insurance. When someone leaves a group plan, laws like the Consolidated Omnibus Rehabilitation Act, or COBRA, provide the person with an opportunity to maintain coverage.
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COBRA
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COBRA is available for people who lose heath benefits that were provided by their former employer (see Resources). When COBRA coverage expires, a person can convert to an individual policy. A federal law called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, exists to prevent insurers from using a preexisting exclusion to deny coverage to someone when that person converts to an individual policy (see Resources). This is one option available to a diabetic, in which the diabetic won't be denied for health insurance coverage.
High Risk Pools
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Many states have high-risk pools that have been crated to offer health insurance to people who have been denied coverage by private health insurance providers. A high-risk pool is also known as an insurer of last resort for people who cannot obtain coverage from a private insurer. There are generally very few preexisting exclusions to prevent obtaining coverage. However, states that have a high-risk pool charge higher premiums for health coverage.
Losing and Regaining Insurance
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People can lose their health insurance for many reasons, including becoming separated from an employer or getting a divorce. Once coverage has been lost, there can be many difficulties in trying to regain any type of health insurance. This is because preexisting conditions often prevent diabetics from obtaining affordable health insurance coverage. When an diabetic is able to regain health coverage, the costs may be too high.
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