elemkay80
Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2008
- Messages
- 27
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 10/2008
- Country
- US
- State
- Virginia
- City
- Richmond
Hey guys,
Got a question that is probably answered somewhere in these forums, but I don't have the patience to go all through them, and I think I have the answer, just need some clarification.
In my best effort to continue with life as usual after diagnosis I am finishing up grad school and will eventually be in the market for a new job, depending on where my progression takes me. The hospital I currently work in has WONDERFUL health insurance benefits (including some superb long-term disabilty), so naturally, anything I look for will have to have similar or I just may be staying here until I can stay no longer.
So my question is this: In thinking about pre-existing condition clauses for group health insurance policies and HIPAA rights, am I correct in reading that an insurance company cannot deny me coverage based on my health status, but can delay covering me for up to 12 months after my eligbility date for any pre-existing condition (namely, ALS)? This would mean I'd have to pay for my own health expenses during that waiting period. If this is true, am I also correct in reading that I can COBRA my former benefits for that 12 month waiting period, so that I'm not really going without health insurance for any significant length of time?
I'm just trying to make some sort of plan. My dream was always to be a nurse death investigator. Well, I'm not having my hopes set too high on that one, as I don't think they make super-off-roading wheelchairs for those hard-to-get-to bodies, let alone adaptive equipment to help me package up said bodies. What I am having my sights set on now is a nurse investigator position in the state attorney general's office or another office-type forensic nursing position - maybe even a professor. I just want to be certain that I will eventually be elegible for health insurance with where ever I end up going.
Thanks for any advice!
~Michelle
Got a question that is probably answered somewhere in these forums, but I don't have the patience to go all through them, and I think I have the answer, just need some clarification.
In my best effort to continue with life as usual after diagnosis I am finishing up grad school and will eventually be in the market for a new job, depending on where my progression takes me. The hospital I currently work in has WONDERFUL health insurance benefits (including some superb long-term disabilty), so naturally, anything I look for will have to have similar or I just may be staying here until I can stay no longer.
So my question is this: In thinking about pre-existing condition clauses for group health insurance policies and HIPAA rights, am I correct in reading that an insurance company cannot deny me coverage based on my health status, but can delay covering me for up to 12 months after my eligbility date for any pre-existing condition (namely, ALS)? This would mean I'd have to pay for my own health expenses during that waiting period. If this is true, am I also correct in reading that I can COBRA my former benefits for that 12 month waiting period, so that I'm not really going without health insurance for any significant length of time?
I'm just trying to make some sort of plan. My dream was always to be a nurse death investigator. Well, I'm not having my hopes set too high on that one, as I don't think they make super-off-roading wheelchairs for those hard-to-get-to bodies, let alone adaptive equipment to help me package up said bodies. What I am having my sights set on now is a nurse investigator position in the state attorney general's office or another office-type forensic nursing position - maybe even a professor. I just want to be certain that I will eventually be elegible for health insurance with where ever I end up going.
Thanks for any advice!
~Michelle