Health Insurance in Arizona:

Rising health care costs have made it very expensive to be injured or ill. If you do not have good medical insurance to help pay the bills, a serious injury or illness can create major financial problems. Having no coverage, too little coverage, or the wrong kind of coverage can be a costly Mistake.

Individual health insurance may cover one person or all eligible members of a family under one policy. People usually buy individual health insurance policies because they do not have group insurance or they want to supplement their group insurance. Individual health policies also are used to supplement Medicare and to assure that a person has some continued coverage between jobs.

Arizona Residents Additional Rights

· If you are leaving a fully insured group or individual health plan, you may be able to buy a health policy from the company that provided your prior coverage. This is called a conversion policy, but the benefits may not be as generous.

· Under Arizona law, if an individual or group health policy provides family coverage, newborns, adopted children and children placed for adoption are automatically covered under the parents' fully insured health policy for the first 31 days. The insurer may require notification of birth within 31 days to continue coverage beyond the 31-day period.

· If you have a serious or chronic health condition, your individual health insurance premiums may be high. The law does not prohibit health insurers from determining your initial premium rates based on your health status. Premiums may also be increased in the future if they are justified and apply to everyone with the same policy.

· Unless you are an " individual" eligible for a guaranteed issue individual health policy, there are no time limits for exclusions or preexisting conditions. Coverage for preexisting conditions may be temporarily or permanently excluded. Individual policies can impose exclusion periods for preexisting conditions on pregnancy, but not on newborns if they are covered within 31 days.

· Most individual health insurance policies have a " look" period, generally from 10 to 30 days, during which they can be returned for a full refund if you are not satisfied. After that period you most likely will not be able to get a refund.



Arizona Department of Insurance office: 2910 North 44th Street, Second Floor Phoenix, Arizona, 85018 Phone: 602-912-8444 (Maricopa County) Toll Free: 1-800-325-2548 Website: www.id.state.az.us