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homefor2's avatar
homefor2
Explorer
Nov 30, 2016

Health Insurance - Caution

Anyone buying health insurance should NOT fill out the questionnaire by themselves unless you have a medical background. This was the advice given to me by my doctor. He suggested I bring the form to him and get the answers correct. There a lot of seemingly trick questions if you don't understand all the medical terms and exactly what your medications are for. As an example my form asked if I was taking medication for high blood pressure. Mine has always been normal to slightly low so my answer was NO. My doctor pointed out that I am in fact taking a medication for something else that is also used for high blood pressure. An insurance company would likely use that to deny a claim due to me not disclosing the correct answer.

There was a program on 20/20 giving an example of a Canadian that made an honest mistake on the questionnaire and Manulife denied a huge claim of over $200,000. It stated they would probably loose their home. It's not worth the risk.

16 Replies

  • The medication may also be used for hypertension (high blood pressure), but if you're not taking it for that condition, and you haven't been diagnosed as having that condition, then "no" would be the correct answer. There are MANY drugs out there that have approved by the FDA for multiple diagnoses.
  • You do not want to tell them your taking a medication for high blood pressure when you are not. This is just going to cost you money and is bad advice.
  • homefor2 wrote:
    Anyone buying health insurance should NOT fill out the questionnaire by themselves unless you have a medical background. This was the advice given to me by my doctor. He suggested I bring the form to him and get the answers correct. There a lot of seemingly trick questions if you don't understand all the medical terms and exactly what your medications are for. As an example my form asked if I was taking medication for high blood pressure. Mine has always been normal to slightly low so my answer was NO. My doctor pointed out that I am in fact taking a medication for something else that is also used for high blood pressure. An insurance company would likely use that to deny a claim due to me not disclosing the correct answer.

    There was a program on 20/20 giving an example of a Canadian that made an honest mistake on the questionnaire and Manulife denied a huge claim of over $200,000. It stated they would probably loose their home. It's not worth the risk.

    It is a little unclear to me what you are attempting to say. Are you referring to the Canadian healthcare system, the US healthcare system, some other private policy, or what?
  • In the USA we can thank the HIPAA laws for making medical records stay in the 19th century. Imagine, your health history is expected to be carried around in your brain.

    It would be nice if there were an 'opt out' option from HIPAA and you could release all your prescription computer records to the company asking for that information. Easy and certainly accurate.
  • Thanks for the info.

    It sounds a lot like most 'Extended Warranties', the goal of the company is take your money and then do everything to deny your claims. :E

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