Alaska Individual Health Insurance
Health insurance is a crucial protection that should be considered a necessity by every person and every family. For those considering private health insurance, the possibilities are endless, as there are often literally hundreds of plans to choose from. Since you are considering Alaska individual health insurance, you may want to know more about the Alaska laws regulating individual policies.
Eligibility: How Am I Evaluated?
The state of Alaska has no regulations regarding how health insurance applicants are evaluated and leaves the decision up to each individual insurer. Most insurers choose to use popular factors, such as health status and age, when determining whether or not to approve or deny an applicant for a private Alaska individual health insurance policy. There also are no laws or regulations on why an applicant can be turned down by an insurer. You can basically be denied for any reason and the decision is up to the sole discretion of the insurer.
In accordance with HIPPA Group-to-Individual Portability Coverage regulations, Alaska guarantees issuance of health insurance via Alaska Comprehensive Health Insurance Association (ACHIA), the state?s high-risk health insurance pool, to HIPPA eligible consumers who have been unable to obtain a policy from a private provider.
Alaska Guaranteed Benefits & Pre-Existing Conditions
What your policy covers will depend on which plan you choose to buy. Insurers are allowed to tailor their plans as they see fit and offer the benefits that they want, for the most part. There are a few benefits that all insurers are required to cover for all customers under Alaska law. These benefits include things such as mammograms and prostate cancer screenings.
The laws in Alaska allow health insurance providers to apply both an exclusionary period for pre-exiting conditions and/or list them on an exclusion rider, which will exclude them from the policy permanently. Insurers can look back in your medical history to determine what, if any, pre-existing conditions you may have. Pregnancy is also considered a pre-existing condition under many policies.
Premiums: How Much Will It Cost?
Premiums are determined at the discretion of the insurer and are usually based on individual factors, such as age, health status, and family size. There is no dollar limit on how much your can be charged for your initial premium or renewal premiums.
Finally, your insurer is also allowed to raise your insurance premiums; however, the good news is that your insurer cannot cancel your policy because of an illness and they can?t deny you the chance to renew your policy, unless they have discontinued the policy type for all customers or have withdrawn from the individual market altogether.