Indiana Health Insurance

Health insurance companies in Indiana operate under a handful of important regulatory laws, and if you are currently interested in buying health coverage you would be well-advised to learn what you can before buying a policy.  Below you will find a listing of the major health-insurance regulations currently in effect here.

• All health insurance sold in Indiana is required to include a guaranteed-renewability clause.  This means that your insurer cannot deny your request to renew existing health coverage so long as you pay all premiums in full.  In effect, you are the only one who can cancel your health insurance.  In addition, as long as your existing health insurance also covers dependents, any newborn or adopted child will automatically be covered by your policy for up to 31 days.
• When setting up a new health plan, insurers in Indiana are permitted to stipulate that any pre-existing condition— defined as a health issue that has been diagnosed or treated in the past twelve months— will be exempt from coverage for up to twelve months.  The insurance company will not pay for any treatment related to this condition during the exemption period, but changing to another policy will not re-start this delay.
• Indiana does not restrict insurance companies from considering the age and health of applicants when deciding whether to offer health coverage.  Insurers are also permitted to consider these and other factors when setting the rates for any policy they do decide to offer.  This means that your premiums may increase dramatically as you get older and/or suffer health complications.
• Indiana state law assures any small business (defined as a company with 2 to 50 employees) the ability to purchase group health coverage that is currently being offered to other small businesses in the same state.  This coverage may come with certain restrictions, however, such as a minimum-participation requirement for the employees or a minimum employer contribution to each participant’s premiums.  Failure to meet these conditions can mean termination of the company’s health coverage.  As with individual coverage, however, it is illegal for an insurance company in Indiana to terminate coverage on the basis of the insured’s state of health.
• If you are self-employed and have no other employees, you are not eligible to purchase group health coverage as a small business in the state of Indiana.  Your premiums for individual health insurance, however, may be tax-deductible.

Before deciding to take any offer from an insurance company, it’s a good idea to carefully compare their rates and coverage against offers made by competing insurers.  Information grants power in any marketplace, and the health insurance market is no exception.  As long as you take the time to become and remain informed, you should be in a good position to find the coverage you need at a reasonable price.

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