Health Insurance Articles
How The New Healthcare Bill Changes Terms For Preexisting Conditions
2010-06-22
Health insurance coverage is one of the most confusing issues facing any family or individual. With President Obama's new healthcare reform bill looming large, it's easy to wonder what new changes are in store. Despite the assurances that the new system will bring healthcare to everybody, that romanticism fades until the rumors and assumptions are checked with the actual verbiage of the bill. The most contested provision of healthcare has always been coverage of preexisting conditions.
Usually, an insurance company will not cover preexisting conditions for a year. Any other illnesses or maladies occurring during this waiting period year will be treated, but preexisting conditions will be excluded. Preexisting medical conditions are frequently the driving reason a person gets health insurance. Those same preexisting conditions are also the reason many patients can't afford to purchase insurance in the first place. Therefore, the highly anticipated roll-out of the new healthcare reform plan can't come too soon.
During the slow ramping up to the full blown healthcare reform package's implementation, pieces to the puzzle of preexisting conditions will be neatly interlocked with other provisions until 2014, when the full plan takes effect. Incremental portions will be slowly implemented, anticipating the time it will take to convert medical record systems and to develop new state-based computer networks with healthcare information and comparative pricing for all types of coverage. These figures will help individuals and small businesses choose the right coverage for their family or employees.
To further testify to the importance of preexisting conditions, the new bill prevents insurers from excluding children with preexisting conditions from a family policy. Any children with preexisting conditions must be added to their family policy by mid September, six months after the signing of the healthcare reform bill.
Adults with preexisting conditions will have to wait until January of 2014 for relief, as the new law does not require their acceptance by insurance companies until then. This will allow plenty of time for states to set up their computers for their residents. Once these rules go into effect, everybody will be covered for all conditions, even preexisting ones. The extra expense to insurance companies will be offset by the added business of millions of new customers.
For those who have no insurance, either due to their being declined coverage or being unable to afford insurance, a national high-risk pool is being established. This Plan B will cover those with preexisting conditions who have been without insurance for six months.
The preexisting portions of the new healthcare reform bill are perhaps the most popular of all. It may take a while to get the system tightened down, but after that, equal coverage for all US citizens will be available.
