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Message: [QUOTE="zio, post: 829403, member: 19332"] I'm only a licensed agent in CA. Each state has different rules & regs. Imabiggin, in CA the individual carriers can't increase your premium or cancel you based on claims. Once you're in, you're in. If they want to raise your rates, they have to do it for everyone in that plan. Blue Cross of CA is especially sneaky. They constantly come up with new plans, offer the plans to the healthy people already covered by them, usually at the same time they raise the rates on their current plans. Everyone who doesn't qualify (based on health status) is stuck in the old pool, the claims for that pool go up (because it's filled with "sick" people), and so Blue Cross can raise the rates by a much higher percentage to cover the claims. The sick people get screwed. It's not anything I can say they do on purpose. And all carriers do it, to an extent. The good ones will cancel the old plan altogether and move everyone into the new plan, albeit at different rates. But at least everyone is in the same pool, so when the rate increases come they're all hit with the same percentage. Ugh.... I could go on and on and on.......... :bang: HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) has a provision for folks who are currently covered by a health insurance plan, develop a pre-ex condition, and then are forced to switch to a new carrier (i.e. job change). It states that once you're covered and have had continuous coverage for... oh heck, 6 or 12 months- can't remember just now- that you can't be denied coverage byt he new group plan, and those pre-ex conditions cannot be subject to a new waiting period. The intended effect is for easy "portability". Also, individual health insurance companies are required to offer a few (2, I think) of their "most popular" plans on a guarantee issue basis for HIPAA folks. The guidelines for "most popular" are pretty loose and the companies usually find their crappiest plan. Also, the guidelines for premiums are loose on these HIPAA plans, and you can expect rates that are through the roof. So MX547, there is a provision for your wife to switch to an individual plan on a guarantee basis, but the coverage will suck and the rates will probably be similar to what you're paying out of your paycheck now. I doublt any carrier would consider her with MS, but that's something for an underwriter to decide. It never hurts to apply. I'm a little rusty on my individual insurance stuff, so anybody can feel free to correct me. As far as insurance costs go, it's been covered pretty well in the above posts. Sucks, huh? How'd you like to be the fella giving the bad news year after year? The only consolation I can give is it's happening to everyone. Large employers, small employers, and individuals. I'm at least thankful that our government has managed to keep their mitts off it, or else we'd really be screwed, eh? ;) [/QUOTE]

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