Denied for Health Insurance Due to Deafness
OldCollegeFriend: okay, as you know, Hubby and I moved to Texas, and since we were still on Colorado isnurance, we needed to change insurances.
OldCollegeFriend: we were looking for a health savings plan (as opposed to a HMO or whatever).
OldCollegeFriend: Hubby applied to a bunch of insurance providers but most of them declined them due to my deafness....it didn't matter that I didn't have any major health problems.
OldCollegeFriend did some websurfing as we chatted, and found on this page: http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/consumer/cb039.html that "in most cases, it's illegal for a health insurance company to deny you insurance due to a handicap."
It is bad enough that most health insurance companies won't cover hearing aids! Now the deaf community has to worry about illegal rejections for health insurance too???
(OldCollegeFriend just messaged me to let me know one of the companies was Blue Cross! I am trying to get a copy of one of the rejection letters, she says it was actually an e-mail, to post here.)
Comments
Well, health insurance may not afford to cover the CI for their hearing loss customers….
…where did the article mention CIs? CIs and the need for regular health insurance are two different stories…We know that health insurances do not usually cover CIs but what about regular health issues? The article is talking about being denied health insurance based only on the grounds of being deaf, period…which is illegal and morally wrong.
That’s terrible. Not even a good reason for denying insurance.
Take these jerks to court, I say!
I believe that we all lack knowledge of something. Insurance company’s need to learn and understand that Deaf is positively and absolutely a natural heritage. And not a disability. Not many people will admit that they can learn something new everyday. And most would rather learn in a positive way than a negative way; for then it is when people become harder to convince or even willing to listen. “Give a infant milk and it will grow” But if you give a infant meat it will have problems. We are all baby’s at some things and need the right teachers who care to teach us. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
It’s a shame what these insurance companies will do in order to try and save themselves some money. These companies cry broke while at the same time hitting us with double digit increases and recording record profits. How do they do it? By denying people they really have no good reason too. I am an Independent Business Owner for a discount health and dental plan (I won’t say which one so as not to advertise), and the people I talk to for health and dental benefits are in the same boat. Women with one or two abnormal pap smears 4 years ago can’t get insurance today even though each subsequent test has been normal since then. This is why we have discount plans today, to help people like these with no other alternative save money on health care. With a good discount plan you can see substantial savings on medical and dental services through a growing network of providers, and you can’t be denied the benefits, any treatment you and your doctor want, and there are no age restrictions. Why do physicians and dentists like these plans: 1. No interference from insurance companies dictating treatment.
2. They get paid right away by the patient at time of service. No waiting 90, 120 or 180 days for the insurance company to decide if they will pay.
3. They actually make more per dollar then they do when getting paid by the ins. co.
And if you do an actual comparison of the discount dental plan vs. dental insurance, you will find that the discount plan is better and offers more ways to save.
You can also get a discount on hearing aids, glasses, even Lasik surgery or gastric bypass.
May not be for you, but worth checking into and you cannot be denied.
I have been denied twice because of my deafness as well (and also because I am overweight). Any so-called problem relating to my deafness is limited to my ears, that’s all. Even though I am overweight, I don’t have any other problems, like diabetes, bad joints, high cholesterol/BP, etc. Everything about me is normal (except for damaged cochlear hair cells and a thick layer of body fat). The health insurance companies (including HighMark of Pittsburgh, PA) cited my deafness as being in the list of exclusions (pre-existing conditions) and my weight as being too heavy (the phone rep refused to tell me what the cut-off is before fat applicants are denied; I did find one example height/weight chart online for a different HI co).
I even wrote a letter to the second HI co stating that I am NOT interested in getting a cochlear implant and that I AM healthy despite being overweight and that I HAD lost 30 pounds prior to applying. No such luck.
Since then, I hopped on and off various university health plans and short-term medical plans. When I do want to go back to a regular health plan, I will leave off the fact about my deafness. Does the health insurance company really need to know this? I don’t think so. I know I do still have to report my weight, but I am hoping I will lose enough weight by then.
Illinois Blue Cross/Blue Shield just denied me health insurance because of my hearing loss. I lost my hearing at 18 months of age….does that mean that all children with a hearing loss are or will be similarly denied? This is not right. I’m not even a candidate for a cochlear implant and their policy does not cover hearing aids anyway! Bullsh$%^.
Health insurance should not cut people’s health expense which hearing aid and cohlear implants which they cannot cut anyone with off for no reason for over deafness issues.
Sound stupidest! Insurance is sleazy
to #4 Heidi
do you use closed caption or VRS ? If so, please return your CC decoder, VRS box and turn off CC mode in your TV. You claim you are not disabled so you should not be needing CC anyways.
We need some protections like ADA, and that happens because of our disabilities, e.g. inability to _hear_ (Has nothing to do our performance). I doubt think Health Insurances are exempt from ADA.
i.identify.me