Alaska Health Insurance

Health insurance regulations in Alaska are among the loosest in the United States, so it’s especially important to know your rights, options, and possible obligations before buying health insurance here.  Below is a listing of some of the most important facts to bear in mind.

• The most important thing to know about when seeking health insurance in Alaska is something called an “elimination rider.”  Elimination riders are clauses, describing a set of circumstances or conditions, which insurers may insert in their contracts to free themselves of all responsibility to provide coverage when the conditions are met.  These riders are usually used to prevent the insurer from having to cover pre-existing conditions.
• Insurers in Alaska are not especially restricted in how they define pre-existing conditions, and they are also not required to offer coverage of these conditions if they do not wish to do so.  The exact definition of “pre-existing” can vary from company to company, but in broad terms they are defined as “conditions for which you have been treated before purchasing this insurance policy.”
• Pricing of health insurance in Alaska is not restricted or regulated by state law, but will generally be comparable to what is being offered to others of similar health, age, and so on.   It is therefore especially important to compare competitors’ rates against one another before buying health insurance here.
• Alaskan health insurance companies are permitted to reject applications on the basis of present health, at their sole discretion.  If they do choose to offer you an insurance policy, their rates may also vary dramatically based on their assessment of your health risks.  No matter what, however, insurers in Alaska are prohibited from cancelling an existing insurance policy because of illness.
• The government of Alaska does provide a handful of regulatory protections to health-insurance consumers here.  First, newborn and newly-adopted children are automatically considered to be covered under their parents’ individual health insurance policies for up to 31 days, as long as that the aforementioned policy covers dependents.  In addition, every policy-holder is guaranteed the right to renew his health-insurance policy indefinitely so long as he abides by the terms of his contract.
• Health insurers in Alaska are required to offer any small business— those businesses with 2 to 50 employees— the same group health insurance policies that other small businesses enjoy.  These insurers may require a minimum level of participation to keep the policy in effect, however, and they are also permitted to alter the rates on these policies on the basis of the insurees’ health, age, sex, and so on within certain limits.
• Self-employed Alaskans (those who do not have at least one employee) are not guaranteed access to the group health insurance policies that small businesses enjoy, but they do have access to tax deductions for premiums paid on individual health insurance.

These are some of the most important regulations on health insurance in Alaska, but they are not necessarily the only ones currently in effect.  As always, we recommend that you carefully examine your options— and competing rates— before purchasing a new health insurance policy.

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