Guide to Health Insurance for HIV Positive People
People diagnosed with HIV or the AIDS virus frequently faces a rigorous process when getting a health insurance policy. Because of intervening administrations, you will possibly be written the health insurance coverage, but the stigma doesn’t close on that point. Holding on to and using the health insurance policy can prove another major undertaking with many potential problems.
Insurance companies are frequently involved in activities that many deem inappropriate like discriminating against HIV infected people. Below are some points you should watch out for.
Underwriting is an integral part of any insurance company. This process is designed for assessing the credibility of any prospective policy holder. In other words, underwriting decides the rejection or acceptance of any application form. As an applicant, you may be asked for various health related information, but in California it is unlawful for any insurance company to use the blood test report for detection of antibodies, which is the probable cause of AIDS.
Insurance companies can not use sexual orientation as the basis for assessing the risk level. This is a gray area that many insurance companies use by denying coverage to single males of certain age groups and living in certain locales known to be part of the gay community.
It is common for insurance companies to exclude what are deemed pre-existing conditions. These are conditions or illnesses that the applicant had before submitting the application to the insurance company. The insurance company has to right to issue the insurance policy with these conditions excluded from the policy coverage.
In case of persons infected with HIV, often the symptoms are easy to detect by the insurer being that they know what to look for and review these medical aspects on daily basis. If the insurance company suspects that a person may be HIV positive, the policy is written in such a manner to avoid claims in future if the person becomes HIV positive in the future.
To limit future liabilities, insurance carriers have used the application process as a loophole for denying claims. If a policyholder tests positive for HIV, some carriers have declined medical claims on the grounds that the policy holder did not provide accurate medical history on the application. Many state courts have ruled that the insurance companies must prove that the applicant purposely withheld information or pay the claims.
Hubert Miles is a blogger for many websites and the webmaster of Medical Articles and Quote For Health Insurance websites.
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