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OnlineAdviser Offers Tips to Diabetics Looking for Health Insurance
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Tony Novak of Freedom Benefits Association addresses the most common questions of individuals with diabetes searching for health insurance. Novak works through OnlineAdviser service that provides support to individuals health care advocates. Diabetics need to pay close attention to the health insurance laws in their state that are designed to ensure that they have access to medical care through health insurance plans. Unfortunately, these laws are not designed to ensure that the insurance will be affordable. Many diabetics are simply unable to afford the most obvious health insurance alternatives.

Many have a need to search for supplemental or less expensive coverage options. Novak says that most questions from diabetics fall into one of these six commonly misunderstood issues:Open Enrollment Plans - Each state now has at least one health insurance plan open to all individuals including diabetics. In most states this is offered through a high-risk health insurance pool that covers pre-existing conditions after satisfying the waiting period (usually 6 to 18 months). Those who had prior insurance coverage are exempt from the waiting period but because these rules vary state-to-state, it is best to look up your state's specific laws before you change health plans. These plans are not available on the internet, so contact your state insurance department for the name of this special insurance provider (usually a local Blue Cross Association) and call the insurer directly for more information.

These plans can be very expensive. If you do not want to tackle this search on your own, OnlineAdviser offers personal assistance for a flat fee of $150 at http://www.tonynovak.com/. Employer-Provided Group Health Insurance Plans - Employer-provided group health insurance plans always accept diabetic employees but require that the applicant be a full time employee who has been employed for the waiting period established by the health plan (usually 30 to 90 days) and be working at least 30 hours per week. Specific eligibility provisions vary as set by state law and the employer. In order to get gain immediate coverage under an employer-provided health plan for diabetes treatment, it is important to have a "certificate of creditable coverage" from your prior health plan.

Short Term Medical Insurance- Short-term medical insurance is available to diabetics in most states who are not insulin-dependent at www.MedSave.com listed under the brand names "Select" or "HPA". Although these policies last only 6 months, most states allow subsequent policies to stretch the coverage to fill longer time periods. Short-term policies never cover pre-existing medical conditions, but are a great value to diabetics in covering any other problems that might come up in the near future. This coverage is only ¼ to ½ of the cost of other health plans. Most importantly, this is the least expensive way for a person who is in between jobs to ensure that the next employer's health plan will offer coverage for a pre-existing diabetic condition from the first day of coverage – without the need to satisfy a waiting period again.

These plans are not available in all states.Basic Health Insurance - Basic Health Insurance at http://www.basichealthinsurance.net is available in most states to all applicants regardless of health history. These plans pay for diabetic treatment after 6 months. But as the name implies, these are limited insurance policies that will not pay for catastrophic bills. Be aware that this insurance plan pays a specific dollar amount that is almost always less than the amount charges by a medical provider, but it may still be better than no insurance at all. The complete listing of benefits, rates and enrollment are offered entirely online.

Some diabetics use this insurance to pay for deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket costs not covered by other health insurance because the benefits are paid in addition to (no offset by) other health insurance plans. These plans are not available in all states.Discount Plans - Those low priced "health plans" advertised to diabetics are really not health insurance at all but health discount plans. Many have been fooled into thinking these are more than they really are. Discount plans do have value in reducing out-of-pocket costs, but not if you pay too much for them. A good discount plan should cost no more than $20 per month and offer a full refund of all fees for a reasonable time (at least 10 days, 30 days is preferable) if you are not satisfied.

The best of these is available online at http://www.ehealthdiscountplan.com. This plan is issued by a large national health plan administrator and used the same national Preferred Provider network that was so highly rated by Consumer Reports although they are not allowed to use the same name by contract rights. There is a complete satisfaction or full refund guarantee for 30 days to give members a chance to test the discounts on their own.Health Savings Accounts - Individual health insurance plans for diabetics that allow participation in the Health Savings Account (HSA) program are not available yet. There are exceptions in a few states, but the cost of this coverage is still so high that these plans might as well not even be available. This may change in the future if Congress gets around to loosening HSA laws.

More information about Health Savings Accounts, including an extensive listing of Frequently Asked Questions is available at http://www.healthsavingsaccount-hsa.com .Other articles on this subject and similar topics are available on the author's Web site at www.tonynovak.com . Freedom Benefits Association provides low cost employee benefit plans for small businesses at www.FreedomBenefits.org.