Health insurance is very important in getting quality medical care. Being declined for insurance coverage can be a disturbing experience. However, there is hope. If you have been turned down for health insurance, you still have options.

Why Insurance Companies Turn Down Applicants for Health Insurance

The most common reason for turning down an applicant is pre-existing conditions. However, the insurance company might also turn down an application because of lifestyle. Lifestyle risk can be because of weight, smoking, frequent travel, and dangerous occupations or recreation. The insurance company will also check an application against the Medical Information Bureau’s database, records of all of your previous insurance applications and medical records from previous coverage.

Turned Down Due to Pre-existing Conditions

If you are turned down due to a pre-existing condition, you should research your state’s laws that regulate health insurance. Some states have an “insurer of last resort”, one company that guarantees coverage to anyone. Other states have created high-risk insurance pools, public programs that provide high-risk insurance coverage. You can also try applying with a few other insurance companies, not all have the same restrictions on preexisting conditions.

Healthy—Still Turned Down

The first thing to do is to contact the insurance company to find out the reason for their rejection. Usually it is a combination of lifestyle issues and minor health problems, like allergies. Sometimes it is an error in the MIB information. You might have an ambiguous test result that looks suspicious. If you find a mistake in your MIB report, make sure to have it corrected.

Health insurance is a changing landscape with new laws to regulate it being passed all of the time. Do not assume a single rejection means you will never have health insurance, you have plenty of options.