New Hampshire Individual Health Insurance
Health insurance is an important safeguard every individual and every family should consider to protect their physical health. If you are currently uninsured, looking into a New Hampshire individual health insurance policy is a smart choice. Finding out more about the rules and regulations regarding these individual health plans in New Hampshire is your first step to deciding if this option is right for you.
Eligibility: How Am I Evaluated?
Under normal circumstances, insurers are allowed to determine who is accepted and who is denied for a health insurance policy. There are no laws or regulations in New Hampshire that state who an insurer must accept in these situations. Factors that an insurer will normally use to determine whether or not to accept an applicant include past medical history, age, and certain lifestyle habits. An insurer can deny you for these or any other reason.
In accordance with HIPPA Group-to-Individual Portability Coverage regulations, New Hampshire guarantees acceptance into the New Hampshire Health Plan for those who are HIPPA eligible, but have been unable to obtain coverage through a private health insurer.
New Hampshire Guaranteed Benefits & Pre-Existing Conditions
For the most part, insurers are not required to include specific policies in their selection of plans. There are no laws in New Hampshire that mandate standardized policies for individual health insurance. That being said, there are a few benefits that all insurers are required to cover under all plans, such as diabetes services and supplies, bone marrow transplants, care for pregnant women, contraceptives, mammograms and patient costs of some clinical trials.
With pre-existing conditions, health insurance laws in New Hampshire allow the insurer a 3 month look back period to determine what conditions should be included as pre-existing. Those conditions can then be excluded from your policy for up to 9 months. This only applies to applicants that have been uninsured for more than 63 days prior to their application. Conditions can also be included on the policy's elimination rider, which can exclude them indefinitely.
New Hampshire health insurance law also requires "mental health parity";, which means insurance companies must set coverage limits for mental health conditions equal to physical conditions.
New Hampshire Individual Health Insurance Premiums
Premiums for New Hampshire individual health insurance are determined based on your age, how many people are covered under your policy, lifestyle habits, and health status among other things. There are restrictions on your insurance rates and what you can be charged due to your age, health status, and tobacco use, but premiums may still be high based on these factors. Additionally, your insurer is also allowed to raise your insurance premiums; however, 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. However, the insurers can charge higher premium to compensate for the increased health risk status.
Before zeroing on a particular health insurance policy, you need to know exactly what is and isn't covered in your policy and how much you will pay in your premiums. Get in touch with a qualified broker or agent who can help you in determining the health plan coverage suitable to you and your family's healthcare requirements.