Penalized for USING insurance!

I am a year out.  Healthier than I have been in years.  Happier too.  DH formed a new company and in the process of taking out health insurance for a small business I was "disqualified".  I think I might have swallowed it had they been up front and said it was because of my wls, but their reason was a doozie!  Because I USED my insurance to pay for my surgery, I was being disqualified!  Can we say discrimination?  Supposedly, if I had paid out of pocket, the wls would not have appeared on any data base and I would have been approved for coverage.   I guess that would fall under the category of "what they don't know won't hurt me". The agent that is putting the company package together is "working on finding another policy", but not too encouraging.  Funny, before she found out I had paid with my insurance, she was all about "you should be congratulated for having the surgery". My only silver lining is I will be on Medicare in 3 years.  Hope I don't get sick before then.

That is very interesting because I was under the impression that any company offering insurance to a group such as your company, or your spouses company, couldn't discriminate because of preexisting condition or anything like that... I would look into that if I were you... I'm not saying I know for a fact, but I would contact the insurance commissioner and make sure it is legal for them to do that.  It would be good information to share with others too, either way, should they find themselves in similar situations.

It's true that if you take out individual insurance, you will probably be disqualified. Think about this when you vote in November.

Connie 

Hi Quiltz,  Iam not surprized.  We looked into policies a few yrs. ago, and we woulda been rated really high just because I'd had Carpul Tunnel surg!  Unless one is with a large company, and go with an HMO, the rates are insane if they will cover you at all....Sorry you are going through this, its too bad self employees deal with this...

The rule of thumb is if you carry insurance for 6 months after a surgery then it is no longer a pre exhisting condition and the other company can not deny you.  If the break has not been too long maybe you can pay a few months for COBRA until the 6 months period is met...

Well, you can always work for Starbucks, which offers PT employees health insurance.  Me, I work full-time for a family owned business that offers no health insurance at all.  "Fortunately" I don't make much money and qualify for Family Health Plus.  Like someone else said in an earlier post, consider this when voting in November. Hugs,

Annette

My comment would be to all of you stating "consider this when voting in November" - do you really want universal health care?  I would guess if we are all forced to live under a healthcare system like that our WLS would be a low priority and would take years to be approved, rather than the weeks or months it takes now.  No, I do not want the govt running the healthcare system - they have screwed up everything they have EVER touched, except maybe the US Postal system. 

I totally agree. If we had universal healthcare, I can only imagine how slow the process would be for people to be allowed to get wls. If people think it's slow now, wait until you experience universal healthcare.

Absolutely agree... Hellooooo, its the reason people come here from Canada... It doesn't work. Universal/socialised healthcare is too slow, envolving too high of taxes. The day we "socialize" healthcare we might as well call ourselves Germans or the Brits or any one of those other semi-socialized societies with insane taxes and gov-everything. Just to add credibility to my rant... I HAVE lived over there as a military dep. for many years and there is a reason America is the best place to live.

Don't be too hard on universal health care.  After my WLS it's going to pay for my tummy tuck and breast lift - and there's not a long wait for those surgeries here in Canada.