America's employer-based health insurance system has always neglected both the self-employed and people in between jobs. Insurance companies have long filled that vacuum by providing individual insurance plans, a nice alternative for people that fear sudden or unexpected sickness or injury. But does Illinois provide adequate consumer protections for individual health insurance purchasers?
Apparently not. The Tribune's Triage blog tips us off to a Families USA report (pdf) which found that our state does little to shield such consumers. Here are a few depressing insights pulled out by the Tribune:
- There’s no guarantee here that insurance companies sell coverage to all applicants, a policy known as "guarantee issue." (Five states do so).
- There are no restrictions on companies’ ability to raise premiums based on an applicants’ health status, meaning coverage could cost an exorbitant amount of money.
- Often, insurers will sell policies to consumers with pre-existing conditions but exclude covering for those conditions for a specified period. Many states have regulations that limit how long these exclusions can last, typically requiring full coverage after six months to one year, but Illinois does not.
- Half the states also limit the period of time that insurers can go back in someone’s medical history looking for evidence of pre-existing conditions that can be excluded from coverage. Illinois has no such limitation.
You can read the entire report here.
Hascat (not verified) on Wed, 07/02/2008 - 11:30
I've never understood why people are so concerned about patients not getting coverage for preexisting conditions when they seek out a new insurance policy. Insurance is fundamentally about sharing risk. A preexisting condition is not a risk at all, it's a certainty.
I think the solution there is to encourage individuals to obtain policies directly from the insurers. Most of the stories I read about people being denied coverage for a preexisting condition involve losing their job and their employer-paid coverage.
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