- Uncategorized (86)
- June 22, 2007: Rx Nopays
- May 6, 2007: STM for College Grad
- January 19, 2007: Agent Compensation
- January 18, 2007: Self Insuring
- January 17, 2007: Over Medicated
- January 10, 2007: How Much Do I Need to Say I Weigh?
- January 7, 2007: Underwriting rejection
- December 13, 2006: Pre-existing Conditions
- December 12, 2006: Questions & Opinions
- December 4, 2006: Half a Plan
Over Medicated
Q. I have applied for coverage for my wife & myself with several different companies. It takes over a month for the companies to respond and they keep losing the files that are sent from my doctor. In addition, my wife has a minor medical problem that is causing her to be rejected. Why can’t I find coverage for her?
A. There are several issues here that are creating your problems. The primary cause of the rejection is over medication. More on that later.
While you have used the services of an agent, in fact, more than one agent, your attempt to control the process is compounding the problems.
When you submit multiple applications simultaneously, as you did with 2 different agents, you have needlessly created a backlog. When carriers see a condition that warrants additional information they make a request from the attending physician for more details. In this case, it was the MVP (mitral valve prolapse) that is present in your wife.
Carriers do not solicit the APS (attending physicians statement) direct, but rather will go through a third party. In your case, the request was made through EMSI by two different carriers approximately 2 weeks apart. Your wife’s doctor responded to the initial request from EMSI for carrier #1. A few weeks later when carrier #2 made a similar request, also through EMSI, your doctor did not honor the request since they thought it was a duplicate from the same carrier.
This further delayed the process by almost 3 weeks.
The first carrier declined your wife for coverage, as did carrier #2.
MVP is a benign condition in most people that does not require medication. In your case, after reviewing your medical history as well as that of your wife, it would appear you have a doctor who is more than willing to provide a medication even when it is unnecessary. I am not a doctor, and am making assumptions based on a review of your records and conversation with you & your wife. You have had a very generous (albeit expensive) plan with low copays. As such, you have used the plan to the point of making your situation unacceptable to a carrier.
My guess is, if you were to ask your doctor(s) if some of the meds could be discontinued they would agree. Once you have been off meds (without ill effects) for at least 12 months you might find a carrier who will accept you.
May 30, 2007 at 12:36 am
Let me get this straight - you are having difficulty finding insurance for your wife because she has less than perfect health?(A prior post mentioned her weight as well as her mitral valve prolapse were affecting her insurability). Hmm, let me quote you from an online statement you made in 2005:
“No one seems to complain when poor credit risks are charged more for loans than those with good credit ratings. So why do people get up in arms when someone who is in less than perfect health have to pay more for insurance? Guess it depends whose ox is being gored.”
Ouch. It hurts when your own remarks come back to bite you. I never get angry at people when the become judgemental of other’s situations - it always comes back to haunt them.
May 30, 2007 at 7:57 am
L Jensen, thank you for your comment.
If I interpret your remarks correctly, you are assuming the one posing the question is me.
That is not the case.
Nor is this a repeat offender . . . someone who has posed another question and now a second.
The questions are those posed by real people who are clients or may one day become clients.
The individual who complained about the delays & issues with carriers requesting doctor notes had stirred the pot before I got involved. This makes it much more difficult for him to find coverage for his wife at any price. His insistence on submitting multiple applications via multiple agents virtually killed the deal.
The matter was already complicated by the fact that his wife was over-medicated as the title & content of the post indicates. In other words, she was taking medication that may not have been necessary for what is usually a benign condition that, in most people, requires no treatment.
In this case, there are no carriers who are willing to take his wife because of the numerous medications which leads the underwriter to believe the condition(s) are more serious than they actually are.