The Benefits Of Individual Health Insurance In The State Of Florida

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
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As is the case in the majority of states, Florida gives limited guarantees to anyone who wishes to purchase individual health insurance and, while your ability to purchase medical insurance will depend to a certain extent on your present state of health, there are circumstances in which health insurers in Florida are compelled to offer you insurance.

Usually, health insurance companies are allowed to ask questions about your past medical history and to refuse you insurance if you are currently suffering from a medical problem or have an 'unacceptable' medical history. More usually however insurance companies will cover you, although they will either exclude particular conditions from your policy or raise your premium and cover these conditions. In Florida however there is one exception to the rule in the case of a history of breast cancer as long as you have completed a course of treatment for the condition at least two years before your present request for cover. In this instance insurers are not allowed to refuse to cover you.

When you have been covered by group insurance for at least three months and then lose ...
... that cover then, in Florida, you have the right to buy a conversion policy and insurance companies are required to offer you the choice of at least two plans. Also, companies may not inflict a new exclusion for pre-existing conditions. They are allowed to however enforce such an exclusion when you have not completed any previous qualifying period.

Where you cannot qualify for a conversion plan but are HIPAA eligible then once again insurance companies cannot deny to insure you and must once again offer you a choice of at least two plans. HIPAA eligibility requires that have had at least 18 months of creditable continuous coverage (the final day of which must have been under a group health insurance policy) and have used up any eligible COBRA or continuation coverage. In addition, you must not presently have health insurance (or your present group cover must be about to expire) and must not be eligible for a further group policy or for either Medicare or Medicaid. Finally, an application for health insurance coverage on the basis of HIPAA eligibility has to be completed within 63 days of losing your prior coverage.

In cases where an insurer or HMO is no longer able to offer cover, because they have for instance become insolvent or you have moved to a location outside of their service area, then other insurance companies must offer you health coverage regardless of your state of health.

Newborns, newly adopted children and children placed for adoption must automatically be covered under a parent's individual health insurance policy for 31 day from the date on which the child is born, adopted or placed.

Under Florida law a child who is disabled will remain covered when dependent coverage has previously been in issue past the age at which such cover would usually be ended, as long as the child is unable to support himself (or herself) as a consequence of either physical or mental disability and is chiefly dependent on the policyholder for support.

The cover provided by an individual health insurance policy in Florida will depend to a large degree on the particular policy which is purchased but Florida law requires that all plans provide cover for specific benefits such as mammograms, childhood immunizations and diabetes treatment. The full list of required benefits is updated every now and again and an up-to-date list can be obtained from the Florida Department of Financial Services.