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Originally Posted by Elphaba
I have an unrelated question regarding US medical insurance and would appreciate some information.
I have an American client, currently resident in the UAE, for whom I am arranging medical insurance. The plans we arrange here are not suitable for US citizens living in the US, so when he eventually returns he will have to replace the plan.
My question therefore, is would he be likely able to obtain some sort of continuous cover upon his return? Full claims history would be available for medical underwiting, but he would want a plan where any existing conditions would be covered on what is called 'no worse terms'. I simply require an 'in principle' answer, not recommendations.
Many thanks for your assistance.
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The first thing to note is that there is a major health care bill in the air at the moment that could change everything or nothing. So future planning is generally difficult at the present time.
There are two sorts of healthcare insurance: group and individual plans. Group plans are commonly offered by employers or associations.
For the group, conditions are either covered for everyone or excluded for everyone, whereas for individual plans the insurer can exclude conditions for individuals. The continuous coverage comes in with both of these in the period where there is a delay before coverage starts. A foreign policy should be good, and I can, for example, tell you that the UK's NHS coverage usually counts.
Health insurance in the US is currently tails you lose and heads they win. And given my fellow Americans susceptibility to the insidious lobbying by the insurance companies, I really can't see it changing this time around.