So you have decided you need health insurance? Great!
The first step is always making a decision and maybe you have even identified insurers for your needs. That is half the job done!
However, you have a slightly rocky medical history and are scared it will affect your plan or maybe you just don’t remember every aspect of your medical history.
Either way, it is of paramount importance that you do not hide anything about your medical history from your insurer. Giving insurance depends on your medical history since that is how your insurers can predict how often you will require hospital coverage.
Keeping track of your medical history is also a good practice for you. While we talk about it, we must know that medical history is not necessarily every single one-day cold you have had. But you must not forget something major like getting chickenpox or something of equal or greater intensity – simply because it happened so long ago and now it’s almost like it never happened. Not mentioning these in your medical history, it could impact the health insurance plan you get from your insurer.
For better clarity on the subject, let us look at three cases where a full medical history was not given and certain illnesses were hidden when the individual spoke to their insurer. Along with these cases, we will also be providing answers in case you have similar questions:
1. After sending a proposal for new insurance in the first week of February, I had surgery on February 20. I forgot to tell the insurer and my proposal was accepted by the company in the first week of March 2017. What should I do now? How will it affect my premium?
Any time a proposal for health insurance is submitted, there is an expectation of full medical history disclosure. This means that if you were aware of the impending procedure and included it in your proposal; you have nothing to worry about. Similarly, no action is needed if you were entirely unaware of any health changes when you applied for the plan.
The problem arises if there was an awareness that a medical procedure – in this case, surgery – was needed. If you are aware of its necessity and choose to leave it out of your proposal, there is a problem. In this case, intimating your insurer about your current health status and the details of the surgery is necessary.
Do this as soon as possible because otherwise, it is not only misconduct but it also looks like you hid this information on purpose, in which case they may suspect gross non-disclosure. However, in most cases, the insurer does not change the terms of acceptance of your policy.
2. If hospitalization due to pre-existing diseases remains undisclosed, health insurance claims are often denied. That said, if I am taking medicine for my blood pressure and diabetes, do I need to inform my insurer and name these conditions as diseases? If yes, what are the consequences of disclosing or not disclosing?
As said earlier, not disclosing any aspect of medical history is never good. As the insured, you are always expected to keep your insurer in the loop about any medication you may be taking for any conditions, pre-existing or not.
To make disclosure simpler, whenever you apply for health insurance, you are asked to fill out a specific health questionnaire. This is a part of the proposal process and gives your insurer an idea of your medical history. In this questionnaire, there are specific questions, which ask about blood pressure, diabetes and other such pre-existing, chronic conditions.
Disclosing this information makes the application process much smoother since they have all the required information for your plan.
3. As someone who has bought an indemnity-based insurance product, I want to know if indemnity policies can be issued along with benefit policies. If not, why? What happens to my current product?
Life insurance companies are no longer allowed to offer indemnity-based products to individuals or groups. This order was issued as per the Health Regulations Gazette 2016, which also stated that any existing indemnity-based offers have to be withdrawn.
As an owner of an indemnity-based product, you should receive a notice from your insurance company about the withdrawal of that product and any procedure that needs following that.
Usually, the next step is either buying a separate health insurance policy or porting the existing policy into a different indemnity-based health insurance product. One that can be offered by general health insurance companies – this way maintaining your coverage.
The bottom line is, never hide your illnesses from your insurer. At Cover 360 we ensure you don’t! Our experts help you in listing your full medical history and find the best insurance for your needs! Our staff is here 24/7 with experts ready to answer any questions – such as the ones in this article – you may have. You deserve the perfect plan and we ensure you get it!