Rejected by Health Insurance Company. Now What?

Don't beat yourself up for not disclosing using a nasal spray. They would have found out eventually. People have been busted for honest mistakes, leaving out meds that they took years ago and had forgotten about. It is criminal and I would urge you to take the time to write to your representatives in the House of Representatives (congressmen) and Senators. Write to your state representatives also. We need to put the pressure on them. BIG TIME. It may or may not do anything in the short term, but if we sit by and let them take care of things, guaranteed nothing will change. I have bookmarked the contact page for Boxer, Feinstein and Harman and write to them on a regular basis. Lincoln declared our government "of the people, by the people and for the people." Our Constitution starts "We the people." If we don't get involved NOTHING WILL CHANGE! Be vocal in your support of HR 676 which is to provide single payer health care for everyone. The number one reason for bankruptcy in the US is health care. We are the only industrialized nation with that dubious record. It is criminal. The opponents, the insurance companies, are crying SOCIALISM in order to scare us. If socialism means taking care of our own without going bankrupt then I am all for it.

The first link will take you to a page where you can then access your congressman and your state senators by zip code.
http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Legislative.shtml
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3733

Look around for a group who supports HR 676 and join on. I know of PDA, Progressive Democrats of AMerica. I am not a Democrat or a Republican, to me they are both the same, but I will sign anyone's petition that I support. If you own the league, you don't care who wins the Superbowl. Our government is run by corporations. It is time to reclaim it.

That said, don't throw in the towel just yet. Check out other companies. Blue Cross used to be a wonderful company when I was a kid, but not anymore. They are not the only game in town. Good luck!

Contact my health insurance broker, he can advise you on what to do. As far as getting rejected from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, you should write them a letter and have your doctor also write a letter stating your current health condition. They rejected me a while back because of some weird gynecological test result that was really mute and I and my doctor both wrote letters and they reversed their decision.

My agent's name is Mark Wolsky and his email is ____@____.com luck.....!!!

The advice already given has been great. I would also suggest that you call or write the allergist you saw explaining the situation. He/she can write a letter to the insurance company describing how mild your symptoms are/were and may be able to get it to no longer be listed as a "pre-existing condition". After all, who doesn't get mild allergy symptoms these days? If the insurance company realizes that this allergy isn't going to cost them any money in the future, then they have no reason to hold it against you. Good luck!

Hi Lynne,

I soooo feel your pain! I am a small business owner and my husband and I were both rejected from multiple insurance companies. Are you running out of your CAL-Cobra or just the original Cobra? We are relatively new to CA and were not aware there was such a thing as CAL-Cobra, so now we have until May 2010 until that runs out and hope there is healthcare reform by then.

In the mean time if you already have the CAL-Cobra, shop, shop, shop around for other HIPAA plans. If I remember right when I was shopping Healthnet had the best prices with half way decent coverage.

What ever you do, do NOT let your coverage lapse and do NOT lie! Insurance companies will find ANY reason not to cover something and if you lie I guarntee, they will drop you!

I wish you luck!!!

Try Kaiser. They seem to be a little more reasonable about things. I had taken blood thinners as a precaution during my pregnancy (have the propensity for clots - Factor V Leiden - but have never had a clot). Blue Cross wants me to be free of blood thinners with no clots for 10 years. As a result, my family is on Blue Cross and I am on Kaiser. I actually think Kaiser is great insurance, I have had really good luck with great doctors! Hope that helps some :)

I would try joining some organizations that offer plans, i.e. American Association of College Women, etc. I would ask if they have pre-existing condition requirements or if they treat their group as in employer would--accepting all patients. Since you are in school, you might qualify for county insurance for your children. They have an HMO Plan. Check out this website: www.first5la.org/Programs/Healthy-Kids and you can call to determine if you qualify. You might also look to the musician's guild to see if they have any connections/plans. That's all I could come up with off of the top of my head. Good luck!

My husband and I went through he same thing. It seems impossible to get insurance these days, but there definitely are ways to do it:
- Check out any and all associations that you or your husband can join. I'm in the field of graphic arts, and one of the graphic arts associations had a group insurance plan that we were able to join a few years back. They took us when I was 4 months pregnant, so they didn't have strict pre-existing guidelines.
- See if your husband could create a partnership with any of his fellow musicians. By creating a small company with more than 2 employees, you would be eligible for group insurance.
- If you really can't get insurance for you or your husband, contact your local school district and ask them about insurance for children. There are inexpensive programs that will cover your kids.
- You you're in California, you can call my insurance agent. Not sure he can help you, but he was the one who helped us set up our company so we were eligible for small group insurance. His name is Steve Holtz, ###-###-####.

I've been down the same path and I know it's a huge struggle. It's a big problem in our country. Hopefully the current administration will do something to fix it.

Best regards,
B.

Hi Lynne. I had the same problem when my COBRA ran out. I've had Kaiser most of my life and love it. They denied us for an individual plan primarily because we had been treated for various things in the past five years. On the advise of a friend in the insurance business, I applied as a business with two "employees", my husband and I. My husband is a self employed concrete contractor. I pay all our bills. On paper I am the office manager working (supposedly) 30 hours a week for him. As long as the two of you file a joint income tax return you don't need to provide an EDD report. Kaiser approved us right away as a business. My kids are on healthy families (for working, low income people making up to approx. $43K per year). They have a much better Kaiser plan than we do but that's all we can afford.

Good luck! It's a pain to have to deal with all this. Universal health care would certainly help.

Well, you don't say if your current COBRA is with Blue Cross/Blue Shield? If not, I'd try to get continued coverage within the same company that now carries your COBRA. You'd be their excisting client, just go on another plan.
If not, then next time you fill out an application - remember that medical history usually is only important if it's "recent", some companies say 3 years back, some 5...
You might need to go through a Insurance Agent that know about certain requirements for different companies.
I don't know what state you are in, but if you are in California, then you might at least qualify for state sponsored insurance for the children through Healthy Families.
Good Luck

Hi, Lynne--

I'd try Kaiser as well. Our whole family has been covered by Kaiser for at least 30 years, and for the most part, the doctors and services have been great. They do all the testing they need to do without balking about it, if they can't diagnose something they bring in people who will (my son was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis about 20 years ago; they couldn't figure it out so brought in a specialist from Children's Hospital who diagnosed him in a single visit, which Kaiser paid for), and I love my personal care physician and the doctor who was my children's pediatrician when they were under 18.

I started a sole proprietorship a couple of years back, and got several marketing pieces from Kaiser inviting me to apply for coverage. (Didn't need it, because we're covered through my husband's employer.) As someone else suggested, check with any associations to which you belong that might provide the option of a group health plan.

Best of luck--this is a huge issue, and it must be bearing very heavily on you.