Tennessee Individual Health Insurance

Health insurance is a priceless security blanket that should not be overlooked by anyone, regardless of age or family status. For those considering individual health insurance in Tennessee, the possibilities are endless, as there are often literally hundreds of plans to choose from. Since you are considering private health insurance, you may want to know more about the Tennessee laws regulating individual health insurance policies.

Eligibility: How Am I Evaluated?

Tennessee individual health insurance applications are reviewed based on the regulations set forth by the insurer. Most insurers use criteria such as age, past medical history, and lifestyle habits to determine whether or not to approve or deny an applicant. Tennessee law has no regulations on the denial of health insurance applications and an insurer reserves the right to turn your application down for any reason.

In accordance with HIPPA Group-to-Individual Portability Coverage regulations, Tennessee does require that all insurers offer private health insurance to those who are HIPPA eligible. Insurers do have the choice of offering you:

• A choice of all of their policies
• A choice of their two most popular policies
• A choice of two policies designated exclusively for HIPPA customers. These two policies must be a "high" and a "low" option and have the same type of benefits offered to all other customers.

Tennessee 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 Tennessee law. These benefits include things such as mammograms and prostate cancer screenings.

In Tennessee, an insurer can handle the issue of pre-existing conditions in a variety of ways:

• For starters, an insurer can add any suspected pre-existing condition to an elimination rider, which will exclude the condition from the policy indefinitely.
• Secondly, an insurer can impose an exclusionary period on any suspected pre-existing conditions, which can last up to 2 years. There are also no regulations against how far back in your medical history the provider can look to find a pre-existing condition.
• Third, if you file a claim concerning a particular condition within the first 2 years of your policy, your insurer reserves the right to check back, as far as needed, in your medical history to determine if the condition should have been pre-existing. If so, then your claim can be denied.

These rules do not apply to HIPPA-eligible customers, as they cannot have exclusionary periods and elimination riders imposed on their policy.

Tennessee Individual Health Insurance Premiums

You should also keep in mind that your Tennessee individual health insurance premium rates are based on the sole discretion of your insurer. There are no laws that regulate how much you can be charged for a health insurance policy. Luckily, health insurance plans in the state of Tennessee are guaranteed renewable, so your insurer cannot cancel your policy because you got sick. They may, however, raise your premiums to offset these costs.