vitus979 wrote:
1) as mentioned, my wife and I are perfectly healthy, with low medical bills and no chronic conditions
Except you have a pre-existing condition of some sort . . . Not trying to be difficult, but it seems relevant, even if you say you've "addressed it and showed they weren't applicable."
I obviously don't know you're medical history, but it seems like you either have a pre-existing condition or you don't.
I don't see how an insurance company could dig into your medical history, come up with new pre-existing conditions, and deny coverage based on that.
Pre-existing conditions are obviously a problem. On the one hand, those who legitimately have a pre-existing condition have a real problem if they lose their insurance due to changing jobs, or whatever. I get that. On the other hand . . . It's
insurance. Those who have pre-existing conditions and then apply for "insurance" at normal rates are basically asking the insurance company for charity. It doesn't make sense in an insurance model.
The problem is that insurance companies can call anything they want to a "pre-existing condition".
Was initially turned down because I had been to a chiropractor's office for a few massages several years prior. Bingo - pre-existing back problem, no insurance for you.
I protested, they allowed that was unreasonable, had another look at my medical history. Oh - this guy had a visit to a podiatrist five years ago - diagnosed with a neuropathy. Bingo - pre-existing condition, no insurance for you. Never mind that the neuropathy responded to conservative treatment and I never saw the podiatrist again.
On the next go-round they found something in my wife's history. She too had been to a podiatrist and got orthotics prescribed. Bingo - pre-existing condition, no insurance for you.
After that, we were quite disgusted with that particular insurance company, so we tried others. But once one company turns you down, they all turn you down, because they all share a database that now documents your supposed pre-existing conditions.
TLDR: if you have ever been to a doctor with any sort of complaint, you have a pre-existing condition!
And that's why, at the time, I went back to COBRA at about 1800 bucks a month. Such a deal!