In the current situation in the USA where health care insurance is a big item, first in the election grandstanding and now in the rather scary discussion that followed the big item for consideration is the pre-existing condition.
It seems self evident what a pre-existing condition is but it is buyer beware. If you once had a condition but have been cured since do you have a pre-existing condition? Does a condition qualify as pre-existent if there is only a history of it? A history of diabetes in pregnancy, for instance, can be a marker for diabetes later in life (see reference below). Does that make it a pre-existing condition? I don't think so but I have no idea what insurance companies think of that. If you broke a leg many years ago and if that fracture involved a joint, for instance your knee, then subsequent arthritis may be considered (due to) a pre-existing condition and hence may not be not covered in your insurance. I suffered a whiplash, injury when I was rear ended in a car accident many years before applying for long term disability insurance in 1990 when I started a new job. I had had ZERO symptoms of this for years. No pain, no stiffness, no tingling in arms/hands, nothing. But anything potentially resulting from it would not qualify as reimbursable long term disability. I had to accept that policy with that exclusion or no policy in the first place. Ridiculous I thought, but it did really happen.
If you made an effort to be proactive in your own healthcare and looked for the presence of genetic markers or early signs of a disease you may have become aware of a condition. That is one that you may not currently have a problem with. Example, if you have polycystic kidney disease in your family, an ultrasound of the kidneys may show the presence of cysts that, over time, can enlarge and lead to chronic kidney failure. Is that a pre-existing condition? The door on that is wide open. One thing is certain, you will be aware that there is something wrong and you will lose any kind of coverage if you don't disclose it when you apply for insurance as you will be signing forms that will say that you have disclosed everything you are aware of. Unless you want the information because it would affect your choice of having children I would be advising against finding out, at least not before you have insurance in place. No insurance company can prove that those cysts were there when you applied although they might try to. And in my opinion no doctor should ever say that it would be impossible to have developed them in just a few weeks. Why not? Because that evidence is simply not available. It is unlikely but not impossible. And no insurance can force anyone to get tested for some genetic problem. They simply have no right to do that. Although they might try. Who knows.
I realize that I am making sweeping statements here about pre-existing conditions and that there are instances where it would be prudent to find out as soon as possible to find out if something is wrong that would affect health right now or in the near future. To stay with kidneys, for example, if there is a family history of reflux disease it is important to find out very early in life because treatment can help prevent or at least delay complications that are caused by that condition which, again, includes chronic kidney disease.
Big caveat here. To publish on this blog an exhaustive list of what to look for and what not is impossible and inappropriate for the scope of this blog. I do not have the knowledge and any list might well be incomplete. I will not take any responsibility for withholding any relevant information, willingly or unwillingly. I do not practice medicine here, I am stating my opinion and offer some non-medical advice. My advice is to speak with your doctor about any conditions you are worried about and find out what the best tactic may be, bearing in mind that you may not want to know before you get insurance. You may want to consider talking with a geneticist and find out what the situation is. Get informed, make a plan, read the small print and shop around.
I hope that the nightmare of the uninsurable pre-existing condition will disappear. I personally lived through it not long ago as I was fighting a decision to deny me long term disability because of what was considered to be a pre-existing condition. It was impossible to survive it and be victorious without the help of sympathetic physicians, a competent and passionate lawyer and a loving, understanding and supportive husband even though seeing me go through this was difficult for him too. I hope that insurance companies will never have access to your health information before selling you a policy. I hope that insurance will not exclude the pre-existing condition and still remain affordable. That is what Obamacare was all about. The Affordable Healthcare Act. Not perfect but livable. I hope that the USA will get with the program and start a national health care program and stop the nonsense that such a program is a guarantee for inferior health care outcomes. That is a myth. Check the numbers. And remember, what you will pay in health care insurance on your own is just another way of paying taxes. Not to the government but to profit hungry insurance companies whose most important priority is the bottom line and who reward their executives with huge bonuses because they effectively denied you coverage for an illness you didn't ask for. At least when you pay it to the government there is a greater chance that excessive bonuses are not part of the deal. Yes, you will pay for it even when you are healthy, even if you might never need it. I hope you don't. Health care, affordable health care, should be there for everyone, no matter what. That is how a caring nation takes care of its own.
I'm looking forward to questions and comments. Email me at I.Johnson@mail.com or leave a comment in the section below. I will address all questions and comments in subsequent blogs only so that all can participate. I do not answer medical questions, not in the blog or in emails as I do not practice medicine.
References:
Diabetes in pregnancy and diabetes later in life: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes/gestational
Vesicoureteral reflux disease (reflux of urine up the ureters to the kidney) and therapy to help diminish the chance of complications: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/urine-blockage-newborns/vesicoureteral-reflux
