Affordable Florida Health Insurance Plans Demanded

Rates for both property and health insurance have gone up considerably since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast 18 months ago -- some premiums have more than tripled.

[Jackson Smith]

This was a very informative article. I didn't realize it was so difficult to find quality health insurance in Florida.

[Maggie Curtis]

Do I have a pre-existing condition? Am I insurable? How do I know?

Many Floridians searching for Florida health insurance get quite confused when inquiring about pre-existing conditions. You mean I have to pay that huge premium and they aren’t going to cover my bum knee that has had surgery 50 times? Most likely the insurance company will not with an individual health insurance plan. What is a pre-existing condition? And how do I know if my Florida health insurance plan will cover it?

First you must understand that there is a huge difference between a Florida group health insurance plan that many are used to through their previous employer from that of a Florida individual health insurance plan. Understanding the difference between group and individual health insurance is the starting point in figuring out how your pre-existing conditions will be covered.

Florida group health insurance that entails two or more employees on the group certificate will cover pre-excising conditions if you have had credible coverage within 63 days of applying for your new coverage. If you are outside the 63-day window and are now obtaining group health insurance coverage you will most likely have to wait 12 months until your condition is covered.

The other type of coverage you could obtain if you do not have access to employer group, Medicare, or Medicaid health plans is better known as individual health insurance coverage. Individual health plans in Florida are medically underwritten based on your medical history. An individual health insurance carrier can do the following when they underwrite your policy.

1. Accept you with a preferred rate
2. Accept you with a rate increase
3. Accept you with a rider on your policy

If you are lucky enough to obtain a preferred insurance rate you are in the clear. If you accepted with a rate increase there has to be a reason based on your medical history. If you obtain insurance with a rider most likely they will not cover any claims due to your pre-existing condition. This can sometimes be reviewed and taken off after 12 or 24 months depending on the individual insurance carrier.

Do I have a pre-existing condition? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I take a medication for an injury or illness?
2. Have I had a major surgery or illness in the past 10 years that still needs medical attention?
3. Have I had one of the big medical issues, cancer, hear attach, stroke, or renal failure?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, most likely you have a pre-excising condition.

Common pre-existing conditions that are not covered by the Florida individual health insurance market would be:

1. Type 1 Diabetes
2. Cancer within the past 2 years
3. Any heart attaches, stints, or strokes
4. Renal Failure

Every insurance carrier follows state guidelines on accepting or declining based on pre-existing conditions. Make sure your insurance agent, broker, or web portal educates you before applying for an individual medical plan in Florida

Common pre-existing conditions that are covered with a rate increase or rider in the Florida individual health insurance market would be:

1. Anxiety
2. Depression
3. High Blood Pressure
4. High Cholesterol
5. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
6. Asthma/Allergies

Every single case is underwritten on a case-by-case basis. Make sure to check with a few insurance carriers. Many companies offer different underwriting guidelines, so be sure that you are getting the correct policy for yourself or family based on pre-existing conditions. The mentioned conditions are just a few known ailments considered as pre-existing conditions. Be sure to consult with your insurance professional to understand what the insurance carrier will do before you complete an application for insurance.

[Robert McRoberts]

Florida health insurance rates are out of control. What can I do to lower my overall cost? Something needs to change in Florida before most middle class families are without insurance.

[Jennifer Alston]

I agree, the rates are out of control. I just left my company to do the self emplyed thing with my husband. We had no idea how much of our premium our company was really paying. Every two weeks we had like $80 taken out of each of our paychecks and we thought that was totally reasonable. So we were basically paying about $320/mth for our insurance. When we left the company we got offered COBRA and the cost wqas like $700/mth, more than double. It turns out our company was paying 50% of our premiums. We turned to the individual market and now we are paying roughly $400/mth for a pretty decent plan. Lucky for us we were able to find a good agent to help us.

[Reena Machado]

Individual Health Insurance

One of the first tasks that employment brings in its wake is to buy an insurance policy. Be that the case there is still quite a lot to choose from. This will require a good amount of research and understanding of the various policies that are on the offering. Individual health insurance is one that is not related to business or self-employment. It can be used to cover a whole family, though. There is no guarantee that your application will be accepted, even more so if you have any health complications. You will also have to pay higher premiums that depends what health problems might arise. This means that the elderly people and or unhealthy people have to pay much higher premiums. The first factor that you must consider when buying an individual health insurance is the cost of insurance. Having a balance of coverage and cost is an important issue.

There are two kinds of health insurance:
1. Fee-for-Service
This plan assumes that medical professionals would be paid a fee for each of the services rendered to the patients. Either the medical professional or the patient can claim the insurance.

2. Managed Care
Most of the Americans have a managed-care plan of some or the other kind. Some of the managed care insurance plans are health maintenance organizations (HM0), point-of-service (POS) plans and preferred provider organizations (PPO). They provide comprehensive health along with offering financial incentives to patients. You can choose a PPO or HMO if you wish to go to a particular physician. HMO is also a very comprehensive plan that is very cost effective also.

Individual health insurance caters to the unemployed class of people through COBRA which stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. Employers can choose to provide a group insurance under this act based on which employees can continue with the insurance for 18 months, if they choose to, after they leave the job. Other criteria for being eligible for COBRA are
1. Widower or widow or child of an employee who dies while working in a company for three or more years.
2. Divorced spouse or child of an employee who has quit the form he or she was working in for at least three years.
3. Child of an employee who has left a job and is not yet 23 years old.

[Lex Poppins]

How to find affordable Florida Health Insurance?

As the cost of premiums for Health insurance in Florida rises every year, there is increasing demand for affordable Florida Health Insurance plan. There are lots of different health policies to choose from, like Health insurance for small business, individuals, group insurance for large companies, small and large families and many more. To select from this health plans, which is affordable and best sited for you is not easy. There is no “All-in-one” health insurance plan. Every one has to select his or her health plan that suits them best. Some time seeing at the rate of premium, people thinks that they are in good health and they don’t need any health insurance but this thinking is erroneous, since the cost of health care is so high that it is not possible without the help of health insurance to pay the bill of even minor operation like some injury caused by simple household accident.

There are many ways to save on health insurance, like for individual health insurance; there is no necessity for COBRA coverage, which has very high rate. For low to medium income group Florida State has a unique health insurance plan called Medicaid program. This is a subsidized program for residents of Florida only. The details and requirement and application forms of Medicaid program is available with Division of Family Service office. Medicaid program covers most of the individual requirements for health insurance. It covers eye care, prescription, dental care, visits to doctors or specialists, emergency care etc. It covers whole family. The program is mostly free.

Apart from Medicaid program there are other affordable Florida Health Insurance plans. You can explore this health plans with the help of Internet, though this is not the easy way. Internet provides tons of information on affordable Florida Health Insurance plans and to find out what is right for you is very difficult. There is one more tool to find out affordable Florida Health Insurance plan that is Insurance quoting systems.

Be careful when relying blindly to insurance agents, since most agents have a tendency to forget to tell you about the health plan restrictions.

[Jane Doe]

Good overall insight into the vast array of "affordable Insurance" sites.

With minimum wage being the employers wage of choice, I can now understand why families are too poor to afford anything other than government Medicaid!

[Jim Anderson]

Jane Doe wrote:

Good overall insight into the vast array of "affordable Insurance" sites.
With minimum wage being the employers wage of choice, I can now understand why families are too poor to afford anything other than government Medicaid!

At least minimum wage is on the rise. Finally some democrats getting things done. Will universal health care happen?

[Eunice Hosbach]

Robert McRoberts wrote:

Florida health insurance rates are out of control. What can I do to lower my overall cost? Something needs to change in Florida before most middle class families are without insurance.

Used to be insurance was something everybody had. What happened to this country? I am an 87 year old woman who lost a husband in WWII, and for what? So the world can be ruined in a generation by a crazy oilman? Please, take care of yourselves.

[Mr Yu]

Eunice Hosbach wrote:

<quoted text>
Used to be insurance was something everybody had. What happened to this country? I am an 87 year old woman who lost a husband in WWII, and for what? So the world can be ruined in a generation by a crazy oilman? Please, take care of yourselves.

Well said Eunice.

[James]

to high of a risk can't get health insurance.

[Candace]

James.....have you checked with your high risk pool program or are you self employed? You may want to check with your states department of insurance.

[James]

have no idea what you are talking about and no I'm disable thats why I'm high risk.

[Candace]

James wrote:

have no idea what you are talking about and no I'm disable thats why I'm high risk.

You should be able to find a disability supplement through medicare for your isse.

[James]

medicare and va a big joke last heart attack cost meover 50K.

[Candace]

Really, I've never head of such a thing??? You could buy a medicare supplement that could enhance your VA and Medicare. How did you pay for 50k of hospital bills?

[Mary]

Hi, I need advice. This is for someone who has never had health insurance nor a primary care physician for routine check-ups but am interested in getting health insurance now. Also recently noticed a breast lump that has not been evaluated. Can they get health insurance now at reasonable premiums? Will this need to be disclosed for future claims? Appreciate the input.

[Jackson Smith]

Hi Mary,

You should be able to find an affordable Florida health insurance plan if you just take a look on the Internet. With your current evaluated situation I'd suggest talking to a broker first. He should be able to tell you exactly what to do..

[Ody Fab]

I take medicaton for pre-existing conditions and it's been very hard
to get private insurance for the last
six years after my insurance company left the state of Florida. Even a good
HMO like Humana or Vista which I can see my own doctors won't take me because I am under medication. what can I do?

[Jack Johnson]

Hi Ody,

Are you self employed or own a business? I think they are some options for you if so. I live in Massachusetts...We have guaranteed medical coverage here. I didn't realize obtaining Florida Health Insurance was that difficult???