Health Insurance Articles
How Medical Records Are Used By Insurance Companies To Decide Rates
2011-07-01
Health insurance is an extremely important form of protection for people to have, because nothing is more important than health and life. Health insurance companies take a lot of factors into account when determining the price of a policy. Some of the most important documents that these companies use to determine prices are medical records. These records help to determine prices based on a number of areas like preexisting conditions, past surgeries, hospitalizations and mental condition history like addictions or eating disorders. Each of these will be looked into by a company looking to sign an insurance policy with a client, and prices can go up or down depending on the information.
Preexisting conditions are very important to health insurance companies. This information lets the company know ahead of time if the clients have any serious conditions that require regular care or doctor visits. Some conditions like MS and Huntington's require extensive medical care and treatment over the years. More minor conditions like chronic allergies or asthma can have an impact as well because they can lead to more frequent visits to the hospital than on healthier individuals. These visits cost more to the company, so they know to charge a bit more for the insurance premiums to cover the added expenses.
Past surgeries and hospitalizations are important parts of your medical records that affect pricing as well. If you have been hospitalized for a serious condition or have had surgery, your risk level increases along with the premium every month. Surgeries like transplants require immunosuppressant medication for a patient for the rest of their life and closer medical attention. Surgeries like these will cause a sharper increase in health insurance price than other surgeries like having wisdom teeth or tonsils removed. Cosmetic surgeries are sometimes important to report and can vary from company to company. Mental history is important as well as physical history to health insurance companies.
There are many different kinds of mental conditions that can affect your health insurance costs. Schizophrenia and disorders like it are much more severe mental conditions than addictions and depression, but all of them are important. Mental disorders can affect physical health and most health insurance companies cover psychiatric care, so seeing mental records is important. Mental health care is often extended visits to psychiatrists and psychologists or even living in rehabilitation facilities for a number of months. People with eating disorders and drug addictions in their history will pay more for health insurance coverage, because they are more likely to need those expensive services in the future. When people are looking for health insurance coverage, it is important to understand the records and how they affect pricing.
