What is Guaranteed Issue Health Insurance?

Healthcare reform has made many changes to this country’s health insurance but one of the most significant changes requires the plans to be guaranteed issue. This means that the health insurance carriers cannot deny you coverage, or even charge you a higher premium, because of your health – past, present or future. The only aspects of your application that dictate how much you will be charged are your age, your location and whether or not you use tobacco.

This allows thousands of Americans to obtain high quality coverage, possibly for the first time. Before reform someone with a pre-existing condition could only get full coverage through a group policy, such as those offered through employers. Now, anyone can get coverage and nothing can be excluded; this is huge for diabetics, the physically disabled, and uninsured pregnant woman – just to name a few.