Pre-Existing Conditions Health Insurance For MS

The insurance plans tend to be quite inexpensive, so it is not difficult to carry them in addition to a regular major medical plan. For example, it is not uncommon to see good major medical coverage with a catastrophic deductible of $25,000 with about $1 million of maximum coverage for an annual premium of less than $200. The "catch" is that usually they are only offered by very large groups, and they often have a waiting period for pre-existing conditions (typically a year or two). Thus, counting backward under such a plan, a person who has MS would have to take out the policy, wait one or two years, and then wait the period while they are accumulating deductible expenses. During this waiting period, other coverage would need to be used for MS related healthcare costs.
 

Pre-Existing Conditions Health Insurance For MS

However, if such a plan can be located and locked-in early in the course of the disease, it can often be the "ticket" that gives the person with MS the freedom to avoid catastrophic health insurance-related financial problems as the disease progresses. When combined with any other form of health insurance (including employer-sponsored group major medical), such a plan can reduce the overall exposure to health risks to a fixed amount even in the absence of continuation coverage.
 
These plans can typically be obtained through large associations or groups. You should check with professional or trade associations, your church, and other types of groups that you are eligible to join to see if such coverage is available.
 
If you have obtained a good health insurance policy with a waiver or exclusion for your MS, you should have good coverage for hospitalization for conditions unrelated to the disease. Additionally, if you have obtained a catastrophic major medical policy, hospitalization expenses for your MS may even be covered after any required waiting period and after the catastrophic deductible has been met.

If this strategy is followed, the real gaps in coverage can be limited to include the following: (1) services or expenses that are not traditionally covered by major medical policies, (2) extraordinary expenses you may recur that are not strictly health-related, and (3) expenses you may incur while waiting for coverage under one or more of your health plans. 

Long-term services can be included among the expenses that are not traditionally covered by major medical policies. These nontraditional expenses can also include, for example, the cost of a wheelchair lift system for a van. Depending on your type of insurance, this category may even include all of the costs of a wheelchair. Extraordinary expenses may include such things as extra transportation expenses due to a disability, more meals delivered because of fatigue, or similar expenses. In essence, the "gap" in coverage can simply be thought of as the not-otherwise-covered net additional expenses you incur precisely because of your MS.
 
There is no question that the need for available cash increases as MS progresses. However, contrary to popular opinion, if you find yourself hospitalized fairly frequently for reasons related to MS, you may have a golden opportunity to raise some of that needed cash precisely because you are sick and hospitalized.
 
One insurance product that is often readily available even to persons with pre-existing conditions is called hospital indemnity insurance. This insurance is usually sold to large group associations. It pays fixed amounts or "indemnities" for each day you are hospitalized. These policies have several characteristics that make them attractive under the right conditions:

• First, they need not be purchased before they become useful. If you are not hospitalized very much, you would be wise merely to begin a file folder with all the information you obtain about any such policies for which you may be eligible. At the appropriate time, you can sign up for the various policies. 
• Second, they tend not to exclude pre-existing conditions. Many of these policies simply have a waiting period for preexisting conditions.
• Third, most of these policies are guaranteed renewable and are issued to large groups. Thus, if you file multiple claims, your future coverage or premiums should not be affected.
• Fourth, these policies almost never have limitations or coordination-of-benefits provisions. Thus, they are "stackable." In other words, if it makes financial sense to have one policy, it may make just as much sense to have many such policies. And these policies will usually pay all benefits directly to you, regardless of any other health coverage you may have.

To find out more, you can check out Pre-Existing Conditions Health Insurance For MS.

Non-Employment Health Insurance For Multiple Sclerosis

Non-employment based health insurance
 
Individuals with MS whose health insurance is not employment based, who have already retired, or who are attempting to obtain private health insurance for the first time, will need to consider using other products and techniques to protect themselves from the financial risks that accompany medical illness. For our purposes, it is helpful to break down the risks attributable to healthcare costs for someone diagnosed with MS into five distinct categories: (1) major medical expenses not due to MS, (2) hospitalization expenses not due to MS, (3) major medical expenses due to MS, (4) hospitalization expenses due to MS, and (S) long term services expenses.
 

Non-Employment Health Insurance For Multiple Sclerosis

Many people who have MS find themselves looking for one ideal insurance package to take care of all five of their health-care risks, only to discover that they cannot obtain it after they are diagnosed. That is because MS is considered by the insurance industry to be a serious illness that carries a high risk of associated costs. Therefore, many insurance companies have historically refused to offer coverage to people with MS or have offered it only at a prohibitive cost. Nevertheless, there is no need to subject a person's entire range of healthcare needs to the lowest common denominator of coverage that can be obtained only for a pre-existing, high-risk health condition.
 
Thus, major medical coverage for conditions other than MS is often the most overlooked component. Just because a member of a family has MS (and therefore may not be able to obtain optimal health coverage for the multiple sclerosis) does not require that all other health needs should be subjected to the common denominator of coverage available for MS. The best way to deal with other health needs is to take a "waiver" or exclusion for MS. In that way, it may be possible to obtain good, thorough, long-term coverage for the person with MS (without the MS component) and other members of the family. This strategy requires payment for more than one health policy by the family, but the improvement in coverage should make the investment very worthwhile.
 
Thus, it often makes more sense to segregate your health coverage needs, and seek one good, portable, non-employment-based major medical (and hospitalization) policy for all health risks except MS (these are often called policies with "waiver" or "exclusion" provisions) . Then, the only risks left to insure would include the risks attributable to MS, and these should be separately insured.
 
Obtaining major medical coverage for MS is the most difficult challenge for people without employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Nevertheless, a number of strategies are available for persons who cannot obtain insurance through traditional individual sources. If your multiple sclerosis can be considered "benign," then your local insurance agent may be able to find coverage by consulting the book published by National Underwriters entitled "Who Writes What." If not, then you should consult your state options as noted above.
 
One type of insurance product that can still be obtained (regardless of pre-existing condition) to help cover the excluded MS includes large group "catastrophic" or "excess" major medical. This product will often, after a high deductible has been met (Usually approximately $25,000 or $50,000) provide coverage in full for a given condition. Many people are put off by the high deductible; but that is a mistake. These deductibles are not ordinarily measured by the amount that the beneficiary of the policy pays out of pocket; instead they can often be measured by the amounts that any other insurer has paid toward a given condition (including, for example, Medicare, VA, worker's compensation, or private insurance). 

For example, a $25,000 revolving 36-month deductible simply requires that $25,000 be paid toward a given health condition within a 36-month period by any accepted payor (including another insurance company). If your MS has cost an accumulation of the policy deductible in expenses to all of your payers, you might qualify under the catastrophic plan. In that case. your condition could be declared catastrophic and would be covered (usually at 100% coverage) by the catastrophic plan. To find out more, you can check out Non-Employment Health Insurance For Multiple Sclerosis.

Continuity Of Health Insurance Coverage For Multiple Sclerosis

Steps to ensure continuity of health insurance
 
The first step in developing such a strategy is to know exactly what you will be entitled to get and when, regardless of your health status. Once employment ceases (or the benefits of employment, such as in a divorce), federal or state law steps in. If your employer is large enough (at least 20 employees), it will usually be covered by federal laws. If your employer is not large enough to be covered by federal law, then your state law will define what - if any - options you will have available to you. 
 

Continuity Of Health Insurance Coverage For Multiple Sclerosis

If your employer is covered by federal law, you must make a determination when you leave work whether to accept your "COBRA" coverage. Federal law sets the premium, which will be significantly higher than the premium you may have paid while employed. Under COBRA, the employee is responsible for the entire premium plus a 2% administrative charge. After your COBRA rights expire, you have a limited time under the 1996 law, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to obtain a "guaranteed issue" policy. However, even if HIPAA benefits are offered, there is no guarantee that the benefits will be equivalent, and there is no limit on premium increases beyond what your state may regulate.
 
In evaluating your options, check to make sure you know what premium you would have to pay for COBRA benefits. If you choose to bypass your COBRA, then you should make sure that any coverage you obtain in lieu of COBRA would itself be continuous. Check renewability and cancellation provisions in individual policies; for group policies, make sure that you know the basis for your own eligibility, and that it is either something you control or which you have satisfactory assurance will continue throughout your life.

Be aware, however, that COBRA is only for limited duration. You should know before you sign up for COBRA what your plan for continuation is once the COBRA is over. If you choose to rely upon the HIPAA plan, you should make sure you understand the exact terms of the plan, including any limitations in the benefits, and the extent to which the insurer can raise premiums over the long term. 

Most states have taken steps to provide some mechanism for individuals to get coverage who cannot obtain insurance in the individual marketplace. In some states, your eligibility for a HIPAA plan - no matter how inferior - will disqualify you for any state insurance risk pool.

Thus, a critical set of steps in evaluating your own continuity is to determine - before you have to make the decision about COBRA - what other options for insurance you have. You should check to see what options your state law provides.

States offer various approaches to providing coverage for high risk individuals who cannot otherwise obtain coverage in the private marketplace. In some states, there is a designated "insurer of last resort" (such as Blue Cross) that offers specific plans at specific times of the year for open enrollment. The most common approach, taken by more than half of the states, is the offering of a"high risk pool." States understandably discourage reliance on high-risk pools; these pools are far from a panacea and their characteristics vary greatly from state-to-state. Some states cap enrollment; and most do not advertise their programs.

Over time, these pools are likely to become more financially squeezed and less reliable. All such pools, of necessity, operate at a loss. Only limited revenues are available to states to operate these pools because self-insured employers are exempt from paying into them. Several proposals before Congress would extend the same exemption to small employers. A good long-term strategy, therefore, should not rely exclusively upon a state high-risk pool as a source for health coverage, if at all possible.

As an alternative to a high-risk pool, some states have made it mandatory for insurance companies to issue coverage to small businesses (sometimes as small as one employee), and have restricted the extent to which premium rates can vary based on health status or age. Thus, another strategy for obtaining insurance, depending upon your state's guarantee issue law, would be to start your own small business. To find out more, you can check out Continuity Of Health Insurance Coverage For Multiple Sclerosis.

Long Term Disability Insurance Multiple Sclerosis

Health insurance
 
Most consumers think of health insurance as one big package (that somebody else should pay for) that is designed to take care of all of their healthcare needs. In fact, most Americans make this mistake until they get sick and discover just how inadequate their benefits really are.
 
An insurance policy is simply a type of contract. You, the consumer, agree to pay an insurer a particular amount in exchange for which the insurer agrees to compensate you for particular expenses you incur in connection with certain health problems.
 

Long Term Disability Insurance Multiple Sclerosis

In that sense, health insurance can be thought of as a form of casualty insurance. Like other forms of casualty insurance, you need to pay attention to the types of problems that are covered, under what circumstances, and what exactly the insurer has agreed to pay when the casualty occurs.
 
The purpose of health insurance is to protect you and your family against the potentially catastrophic costs of medical expenses that can accompany a serious illness. Thus, in the overall scheme of things, health insurance is simply a means of protecting your other assets so that you will not have to drain them to pay for the expenses that can accompany a serious illness. Like other forms of insurance, health insurance is best purchased before a significant health issue arises. Policy-makers understandably discourage equality of coverage for both healthy and unhealthy individuals; if good health coverage were as readily available after an illness as before there would be little incentive for healthy people to shoulder any significant premium costs for good insurance, and the private insurance system would collapse.
 
Inadequacy of coverage for seriously ill or disabled individuals

Unfortunately, our government has encouraged employer sponsorship of health insurance as the primary source of coverage in the private marketplace. Employers purchase health coverage that they believe will satisfy the needs of their employees. By marketing insurance to employers the coverage has been adapted to the demands of its purchasers. Thus, over time, more benefits have been provided for "working well" people, to the detriment of coverage for individuals who are seriously ill. 

Most traditional health plans now have inadequate coverage for seriously ill individuals, and in order to meet the increasing demands of the working well to whom the insurance is marketed, this trend is likely to continue. For example, many policies now include chiropractic and counseling benefits, but few policies still provide reasonable or adequate rehabilitation or therapy benefits, and those benefits that do exist are often prohibited for "maintenance" therapy (such as is required for MS). 

Similarly, coverage for durable medical equipment has been constrained over time, home healthcare coverage is becoming a rarity, and prescription formularies (the lists of medications that a company is willing to cover) are continuing to narrow. Most basic employer policies are simply inadequate for the needs of seriously ill individuals, and anyone who wants comprehensive health coverage must have a catastrophic major medical policy in addition to a basic employer plan.

Discontinuity of coverage
 
Adding to the dilemma of coverage deficits is the problem of discontinuity. Because our health insurance system is mostly based on employer-sponsored benefits, health benefits can only be considered as secure as the prospect of the employee's continued employment. In other words, the provider of employer-sponsored benefits is the employer and a break with the employer could eventually cause a break with the coverage. If your insurance is a benefit of your spouse or parent, the loss of that relationship (through divorce or death, for instance) could also deprive you of your critical health benefits. 

Consequently, employer-sponsored health benefits lack the essential element of continuity that we expect from every other insurance policy we own, and a thorough insurance and financial plan should include specific strategies that can be implemented when or if employer-sponsored insurance becomes unavailable. To find out more, you can check out Long Term Disability Insurance Multiple Sclerosis.

Health Insurance For Multiple Sclerosis

Insurance
 
BECAUSE GOVERNMENT CASH benefits are so unreliable and insubstantial, persons with disabilities are well advised to devise alternative methods for financing costs attributed to their own disabilities and illnesses. Given the potential enormity of liability, insurance is a logical alternative to direct financing of the potential liabilities.
 

Health Insurance For Multiple Sclerosis

Insurance takes the shape of a counter intuitive form of investment: you pay for something you hope you will never need to use. Because of the gloom inherent in these arrangements, some people hesitate to invest adequately in insurance coverage. This view, however, is risky wishful thinking unless you are very wealthy. 

Although you may never have enough dollars to pay for the potential devastating consequences of disability on your own, you can at least minimize the risks by insuring against them. Insurance is essentially a means of transferring financial risk to an outside party. Rather than risk all the consequences of disability, you instead pay a premium and transfer some of the risk to an insurance company.
 
As the probability increases of that risk coming to fruition, the cost to the insurance company increases correspondingly. Thus, the types of insurance that are most important to a disabled person are, unfortunately, precisely the types of insurance that become more difficult to obtain following the diagnosis of a significant medical condition (e.g., MS). The types of insurance that are directly affected by health conditions that the insurance industry considers serious enough to be "ratable" (i.e., to warrant a higher risk assessment) usually include:

• Life insurance.
• Health insurance.
• Disability insurance. 
• Long-term care insurance. 
• Disability-based insurance, such as: 
• Mortgage insurance. 
• Business overhead insurance. 
• Disability buy-sell insurance. 
• Key-person disability insurance. 

Of course, the limited availability of insurance does not decrease the need for it. For example, life insurance has traditionally been purchased to take care of needs such as maintenance of dependents following the death of a breadwinner, payment of liabilities, payment for college expenses, and payment for extraordinary needs. These needs remain just as important - if not more important - for a disabled individual.
 
Life insurance
 
Life insurance is essentially a pot of money available when we die. However, the life insurance contract itself has value even while the owner is still alive, because it represents guaranteed payment in the future of the proceeds of the policy. It is also possible, therefore, to view life insurance as a pot of money that is available during life for extraordinary needs, or as a substitute for some disability related insurance products (e.g., mortgage insurance). 

For example, a person who knows that he or she is going to die can convert existing life insurance into current money. Unfortunately, life insurance cannot normally be used in this manner by persons with MS because it is not considered a terminal disease. However, a well-spouse diagnosed with terminal cancer might want to make use of life insurance benefits in this way in order to generate needed funds more quickly. An attorney who specializes in elder law can provide information about the procedures involved and draw up the necessary contract with the viatical company offering this financial arrangement.

Another alternative is to use whole life insurance in place of term life, and then take out policy loans against the cash value of the whole life policy for extraordinary needs. Term life insurance (a form of life insurance that provides a fixed amount of money if the person dies within the stated term of the policy but has no additional investment value) is the insurance typically offered by employers. Whole life insurance (a form of investment that not only provides insurance but also accumulates cash value) is typically purchased privately by individuals. Assuming that you are able to obtain enough whole life insurance, you may be able to borrow enough against its value to defray the costs attributable to disability during your lifetime.
 

There are a number of ways that persons with a diagnosis of MS can obtain life insurance despite diagnosis. One way is to convert existing individual term life policies to whole life. Another way is to obtain as many group memberships as possible in associations that offer "guaranteed issue" life insurance (and then convert this to whole or universal life if offered). Also, a person with MS should accept as much employment-based life insurance as is available, and convert this insurance to whole life insurance if that option is available upon leaving employment. To find out more, you can check out Health Insurance For Multiple Sclerosis.