I am living in Ohio. I have an application for an individual health insurance way back 30 days ago. Just recently I received a letter from the insurer that I applied with hoping that my application has already been granted. But it turns out that they are just asking further details from me. How long should it take for an individual health plan to be approved?
An application for individual health plan in Blue Cross Blue Shield, for example, can take about a week or more to be approved. This is in consideration to the details that have been provided by the policy holder. There are some insurance companies that offer online individual health plan applications that take only a few hours after submitting the form and take less than a week for it to become effective. There should be no reason that an individual health insurance application takes longer than 30 days and you should inquire as to the cause of the delay. Answer by Moderator - June 16, 2009 @ 6:54 pm 1 CommentLeave a comment |
|
Usually, application for individual health insurance will take at most a week or two. However, if there are complications in your application, such as pre-existing conditions, it would take longer and the lesser chance for your application to be approved.
Sometimes it can take up to 60 days for a policy to be issued. If an insurance company needs actual medical records from a doctor to evaluate your insurability the process becomes more complicated. The insurance company must request and pay for the records then the doctor has to actually get the records to the insurance company. Sometimes it takes weeks for the doctor to even respond to the request. You should be nervous if you are told it will only take a few days. These usually means that the insurer is not checking you our first. What this means in practice is that they will check you out when you have a claim. they will often look for things that you may have missed on the application and for pre-existing conditions. These two things can cause your claim to be denied. Always use a company that underwrites you upfront. We represent BCBSFL and they underwrite upfront. Once you are approved then you do not have to worry.
Comment by Gerard Denys — June 16, 2009 @ 5:23 pm