Pre-existing conditions and medical/travel insurance

Travel Insurance

If you are look for cover for a single, short-term trip exterior of your home state, or multiple trips over a twelve-month period, it may be that a traveling Insurance plan will fit your needs.

There are traveling insurance plans available whereby the insurance company may be able to offer insurance coverage that does include pre-existing status.  With these companies, clients are required to undergo telephone “showing” – providing details of the relevant conditions to the insurance company. 

The insurance company may then apply additional premiums (“loadings”) to their criterion rates in order to offer cover for the pre-existing medical status.  This is not guaranteed, and there may be circumstances where pre-existing conditions are covered without extra complaint, but there may also be case where insurance coverage for a status is declined (although unrelated conditions will still be covered).

An expert broker should be more than able to guide their clients to determination the most appropriate travel insurance for their needs.

buck private Medical Insurance

If you are an exile or are look for long term insurance coverage in your home state, a full buck private Medical Insurance plan may best suit your needs.

With respect to how this type of plan will treat cover for any pre-existing condition, this will be straight influenced by the type of underwriting employed by an insurance company or plan supplier.  This is either on a "Full checkup Underwriting " or a "Moratorium" basis.

Where an insurance plan is "Fully Medically Underwritten", medical history is disclosed on the application form.  This is then assessed upon submission, by that insurer's underwriters on a case-by-case basis. Once assessed, the application may be accepted without exclusions, accepted with exclusions, accepted at a higher premium to cover pre-existing conditions (a “loading”) or declined altogether.

Under this system of underwriting it is impossible to give a 100% accurate assessment of the effect a pre-existing condition may have on an application for cover without actually submitting an application - as everyone's individual circumstances are different, a case by case approach is necessary.  It is an unfortunate fact, however, that the more serious and/or long term a condition is, the less chance there is of having it covered by a new medical insurance plan.

A Moratorium is a waiting period that must elapse before claims for pre-existing conditions may become eligible under a new Private Medical Insurance plan.

Whilst an application form for this type of underwriting may not ask for any medical information to be disclosed, there are specific rules and conditions that must be met before pre-existing conditions would be considered for cover.  This may be that any conditions that have presented symptoms or have had treatment or advice in the two years prior to the start of an insurance plan would be excluded until two continuous years have passed from the start of a plan without any signs, symptoms, treatment or advice.

Under the "Moratorium" system of underwriting, it may well be that pre-existing medical conditions may never be covered but cover could still be given for new and unrelated illnesses and diseases.

By seeking independent and impartial advice through a broker such as Medibroker, customers can benefit from a wide range of options across different types of medical insurance in order to obtain the most suitable plan for their individual needs.

This article is intended as a "quick reference" guide to Pre-existing Medical Conditions, and is not a full and comprehensive guide to policy benefits and limits. Full details of coverage provided by each Insurer / Plan Provider are contained within their plan rules and/or policy wordings, which are available upon request.

Andrew Wilson

Sales & Business Development Director

May 2007

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