Mississippi Health Insurance Plans

To be financially prepared during accidents or events of sickness of your family, you must have medical insurance . Before choosing the type of health insurance plan in Mississippi, you should weigh your family's medical needs and what you can and cannot afford. Those who live in Mississippi have many options on what kind of medical insurance to get. The legislature that the Mississippi Insurance Department supervises is that the Mississippi medical insurersmay extend private medical insurance to families, as well as individuals.

In Mississippi, medical insurance providers are allowed to medically underwrite individual medical insurance policies. It is not a guarantee issue state. When applying, the medical insurance carrier will review the information about your past and present medical conditions. The information will be the insurance carrier's basis to: approve the health insurance application with coverage based on the terms of the health plan, approve the application with particular limitations or exceptions, and worse, deny the application.

Mississippi medical insurance providers are given 1 year to determine coverage of pre-existing health conditions. Elimination riders are also allowed to be integrated with the medical insurance policy. Elimination riders permit the medical insurance carrier either to temporarily or permanently not include coverage due to a particular medical illness. As stated in the Mississippi law, medical insurance providers are not required to extend credit for creditable coverage beforehand. Rate caps are not included on individual medical insurancepremiums. The fee that will be charged is based on your age, gender, health status, location of residence, and the type of plan you choose.

A small group in Mississippi is any company with 1 - 50 employees. Guarantee issue basis is given to a small group which means that all groups will not be declined coverage because of their health status. Companies require their employees to wait until they are allowed to become entitled to the sponsored health plan of the employer. After the waiting period, you will be entitled to join the small group health insurance plan in Mississippi given that you have completed an application for the medical insurance carrier. The insurance carrier holds the right to a 6 month look back and a 12 month exclusionary period on each candidate who does not have former creditable coverage. The maximum period for exclusion of a past medical condition without previous creditable coverage is 1 year.

Mississippi allows group fees to be medically underwritten. The factors for rating include geographic location, type of industry and number of plan members. Based on the total health status of the group and these factors, insurance companies can adjust the standard rate by 25%. Self-employed groups of an individual must be given guaranteed issue coverage by insurance companies. Also, those who are self-employed must be given guarantee issue small group plans in Mississippi except those who are covered by a health plan provided by an employer.

Companies with more than 20 workers are regulated by federal COBRA laws which state that for 18 months, the employee can stay on the employer-sponsored health insurance plan in Mississippi and is entitled to obtain similar level of coverage. The employee is the one who is responsible for payment of the entire premium with a 2% administration fee.

The Mini-COBRA option under the 1972 Insurance Code 83-9-5 is offered in Mississippi to those who are signing out of a group plan of not more than 20 members and are not federally qualified for COBRA. Employees who were terminated may continue coverage up to 12 months in their group plan and a 3-month waiting phase.

Those who have maxed out their COBRA benefits, or meet federal HIPAA guidelines, will be presented guarantee issue coverage on an individual medical plan by the Mississippi Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool Association.

Summary: Those who live in Mississippi have a wide array of medical insurance plans that they can choose from but is not a guarantee issue state.

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