Monday, January 19, 2009

Affordable Medical Insurance For People With Cancer

Locating affordable health insurance coverage today is not easy but finding cheap medical insurance with cancer is thought by a lot of people to be all but impossible. However, if you know where to look then it is not quite as hard as you might think.

The principle difficulty facing people with cancer when when it comes to looking for health insurance is the fact that just about all plans carry exclusions for pre-existing conditions that will exclude coverage for a condition, provide cover for an additional cost or provide coverage at normal rates but require a 'waiting period' before cover for a condition comes into effect. Most people are frightened off simply by the words 'pre-existing condition exclusions' although it is often not as frightening as they imagine.

The majority of people fall into two groups when looking for medical insurance – those who are looking for a private individual health insurance plan and those who are looking for coverage under a group medical insurance policy.

Those people looking for an individual plan have to begin by deciding upon the type of policy which you need and then shop around for one that provides you with the cover you want at a cost which you can afford. Basically, your choice between a traditional Fee-for-Service (or indemnity) plan, a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plan, a Point-of-Service Plan (POS) or a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan. There are both advantages and disadvantages to each of these plans but, within each type, you will normally find a number of plans which will meet your needs.

Should you be looking at a group plan then you will either be looking at a scheme provided by an employer or considering one of the many plans available through things like clubs, motoring organizations or senior citizen groups.

A group policy provided by an employer is often the best choice for an individual with cancer who needs to get around the problem of pre-existing exclusion clauses as these group plans are tightly controlled by both federal and state laws that restrict insurers when it comes to imposing exclusions. For instance, an insurance company cannot deny you cover merely because of a pre-existing condition and, if you are transferring between plans and have a break in your cover of less than 63 days, no waiting period can be imposed providing a condition was covered and any waiting period was completed under your prior scheme. Also, when you do have to wait for cover, an employer's plan cannot make you wait more than 12 months.

Group plans, other than those which are provided by an employer, will also often treat pre-existing conditions more favorably than individual plans, although here you will have to look carefully at each plan.

If you are currently sitting back because you think that you are unable to get medical insurance coverage as a consequence of suffering from cancer then think again. You may be surprised to discover that you can get cover and get it at a price which you can afford. So, begin shopping around and get yourself an online discount medical insurance quote.

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