My 17yos has recently been diagnosed with a rare eye condition that will be a life-long issue. My dh has always worked for the federal government, so we've never had to think about the issue of health insurance policies excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions. Until he's at least 22, ds will be covered under our insurance.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience in dealing with pre-existing conditions and can give me some info or reliable sources to look up info about how all of that works.

Having this condition, it has crossed my mind that he will have to be careful about insurance coverage and that it could even affect some of his choices in terms of career (being sure he will always have access to good coverage and not have treatment excluded).

Anyone with knowledge about this type of thing?

Thanks!
Chrissy

I don't but will be watching this post with interest. My ds was diagnosed with severe hearing loss over the summer and now wears hearing aides - this will now become a pre-existing condition. Of course, most health insurance don't even cover the cost of the aides (over $3000) but he'll need regular hearing checkups to be sure his hearing loss doesn't get worse!
Heidi

Hi Chrissy, I am very sorry about this.
Being the anal person that I am (with my dd only just getting ready to turn 8). I have already investigated this with our insurance company and several others as well. My dd had a liver transplant. We have been told she will never been denied coverage as long as we never have a gap in coverage (she can be on ours until 24 or 26 - they just raised our age for dependents). She must be on a group plan, so from ours she can go onto either her own via an employer or that of a spouse. But she can never buy her own plan (like some families by just a plan for their own family).
But very important is that there is never a coverage gap because that will be a disaster.

Hugs Melissa

I used to work for BCBS in the state where I live, and have had different insurance policies from different companies both I and my spouse work for.

My prior Company, in the late 1990's : They covered any pre-existing conditions, no questions asked. It was a awesome insurance offered by my employer, a large corporation, and was a BCBS policy.

Our current coverage, Spouse's employer: Pre-existing conditions are also covered, no questions asked. Again, a policy offered by a major international corp. We have had both Aetna and BCBS through them and pre-existing was not an issue.

My knowledge from working at BCBS, in the enrollment and billing department: Whether are not pre-existing conditions will be covered or not is completely up to the policy the employer purchases for their employees. Each little option costs $$, so employers pick and choose, ala-carte, as to what their policy will cover. Of course, there are normal "standards" that most will cover, and then it gets down to "do you want to cover this", and then "how much is it" type of conversations. Also wanted to say that there was never an issue, in my experience, about a gap in coverage. As a matter of fact, since many employers required a waiting time before coverage started, a gap is almost to be expected.

Covering pre-existing conditions is much more the norm now, at least for large corporations. If your child ends up working for a major corp, it's a good chance pre-existing conditions won't be a issue. It's usually the smaller businesses that struggle to provide insurance, and so pick just the bare bones to cover, where pre-existing might be a problem.

This is just my experience. Private insurance, bought on your own, is alot different as far as what is covered and the cost so I can't speak on that. Of course, who knows what the Government is trying to bring to the table, and how it will affect everyone's health covera
hth
K

Thanks for sharing your information and experiences. I did read somewhere that new laws in the late 90's (?) protect you if you have continuous coverage and group insurance. Not sure how to verify that, though. We'll have to make sure he investigates carefully when he becomes responsible for his own insurance and we'll keep trying to check into it as well. And who knows what could change in a few years!!

Chrissy

I think it all has something to do with how expensive those "pre-existing" drugs cost, unfortunately.

We have private insurance because dh is self-employed, and both my daughter and I are only able to go through BCBS. No other companies will even consider us because 1) dd has had a record of JRA (Juvenille Rheumatoid Arthritis) in her history...even though she no longer has it (9 years old), and 2) I have had blood tests to rule out the possiblities of Rhuematoid Arthritis in my body (considering that I have a thyroid condition in which RA is sometimes associated with and because of dd's history)...I do NOT have RA, have never had RA, and yet they still consider me having a "pre-existing condition" of RA due to the blood work I had done. SO. SILLY.

SO, needless to say, my dd and I are rejected by other private insurance companies due to our "pre-existing conditions", yet neither of us has RA currently. I guess they do not have a very positive outlook on our future, and are assuming that RA may rear its ugly head at any moment, and they don't want to be stuck with the bill. (RA drugs are ridiculously expensive!)

Never had any problems with BCBS. They cover everything, but they are also more expensive. DH and the rest of the family have something else. So political! It's all about the money, I guess. Also, as someone else mentioned, who knows what new trends will arise with the possibilities of socialized health care? The FDA has already started to pull some of the meds that I'm dependent on for my thyroid (Armor Thyroid). They just recently reinstated it, but it is very limited and hard to come by now. My doc said she had to put many patients on synthetics over the summer when the FDA did this, and they were getting sick from it. It's really crazy and upsetting to believe that this new system could really become reality! I think it will affect everything as we currently know it, concerning health care. BCBS just increased my premium by $50/month a couple of months ago. Thankfully we can still afford it, but I do wonder what's next?

Nancy