After an impatient wait, I have been given an answer. The underwriters at the health insurance company that I applied for a policy with have approved my application. This is great news! Now, I need to find out what the premiums are going to cost me, because that isn’t very clear. It never is.
The hardest part about applying for health insurance is the waiting for approval or denial by the insurance company. This puts a person into a situation where they have done everything they can do, and now, are waiting, powerlessly, for some big corporation to decide their fate.
In some ways, this is more stressful than filling out the actual application form. In the back of your mind, you are hoping that nothing bad happens before the insurer officially approves the application. Heaven help the person who has to visit a hospital in the days before their new health insurance policy starts! That entire bill will have to be paid out of pocket.
After waiting, rather impatiently, for an answer, I finally got one. When I applied for health insurance (this time) I did it with the help, advice, and knowledge of an insurance broker. She gave me quotes for a few policies, I picked the one that sounded the best, and she advised me as I filled out the application. All that was left to do was wait.
Today, I got an email from the office of my insurance broker. The email subject line started with “Good News!” This happy little email went on to say that I had been approved for the policy that I applied for. It has the date that the policy will take effect. It noted that I will be receiving my policy information and insurance card directly from that insurance company “shortly”. All of this makes me happy.
It seems that when you use the services of an insurance broker, the insurance company will tell the broker when you have been approved (or denied) for the policy first. Then, the broker’s office lets you know about it. That works for me.
The email said that I was approved “Tier 1 (standard rate, as expected)”. My interpretation of this was that the amount that I would be paying for premiums would be precisely what the initial quote said it would be. However, my past experience with health insurance companies made me distrustful of that assumption. This email didn’t specifically say “Your premiums will cost X dollars”.
So, I sent a return email, and asked what the cost of the premiums will be. Obviously, if the insurer chose a higher dollar amount than what I was quoted, then I will have to cancel the policy. That would make it too expensive for me to afford. Just my luck, I sent the return email too late for the insurance broker to read it today. I’m just going to have to wait for an answer, either from the broker, or from the policy information, whichever arrives first.
Image by Joelk75 on Flickr