If you switch jobs while pregnant, is the pregnancy considered a pre-existing condition that won't be covered by insurance at the enw company?

What if you switch while trying to get pregnanat and find out after you start that you were pregnant before you started, would that be a pre-existing condition and not covered?

Hopefully some HR people or those that experienced this cna help out

I would think that they would consider this a pre-existing condition and would not cover you. A friend's wife was pregnant and when he started a new job, they didn't cover it because it was pre-existing. I don't know about where you are, but some places won't even cover you for the first 30 days or so (like my job). At my husband's job, they won't cover you until after 90 days of employment.

The point in which you started trying to get pregnant is of no importance. The insurance company doesn't care whether your pregnancy was planned.

Nevertheless, good luck to you.

Thanks for the reply. I also googled the topic and found this. I wonder what your friends circumstances were to make it preexisting.

http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregnancy/phealthcare/0,,midwife_46wb,00.html

"Under a law known as HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, health insurers cannot consider pregnancy a preexisting condition. So, unlike illnesses such as diabetes, they can't deny you coverage when you go from one job to another and switch health plans.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of "buts" to HIPAA. For one thing, HIPAA doesn't apply to someone who previously had no health coverage at all and then gets into a group health plan through a new job. So if you had no insurance, got pregnant, then landed a new job with insurance, your new health plan would not have to immediately cover your pregnancy. You might have to sit out a preexisting condition waiting period, a period that could be longer than your pregnancy and in the meantime pay for your visits yourself.

Second, HIPAA applies only to group health plans. So if you have individual insurance and are pregnant, then buy group health insurance, you again could be subject to a preexisting condition waiting period. Likewise, if you move from one individual health plan to another individual health plan, you might not get pregnancy coverage at all."

Can anyone shed any more light?

[This message has been edited by agdx88 (edited 4/12/2007 9:12a).]

[This message has been edited by agdx88 (edited 4/12/2007 9:13a).]

Your answer should lie in your second post - what else are you wanting light shed on?

If you have insurance at your job now - and you get a new job - pregnancy is not a "pre-existing" condition and you will be convered.

That is one of the good things about HIPPA - there are plenty of things in it that make life for HR professionals quite difficult.

Very simply put:

If you are on a group plan, become pregnant, and then switch to a different group plan with a different company, the pregnancy is not a pre-existing condition.

A pre-existing condition is any condition you have diagnosed or treated while uninsured, and then you attempt to get insurance.

You have a full transfer of coverage.

Additionally, anything you met toward your deductible on your old plan carries over to the new plan. Deductibles are calendar year, and reset Jan 1st, regardless of when the plan started or when you changed jobs.

rcrissey@allstate.com

TxsAggieFn - how do you "transfer" deductible from one poliy to another? And why would a new company care how much I paid on a previous policy?

This is the first time I've heard this regarding teh deductible and mmight be pertainate to discussions when swtiching.

First, you can get a statement from your prior insurance company on how much you paid toward your deductbile.

Second, the new insurance company cares because it is the law (albeit a law that the general public doesn't know).

Thanks I'll have to keep that in mind.