Healthy Access Database

Individual Health Insurance Coverage

Many Americans who do not have access to group health insurance coverage, like self-employed people, early retirees, students and people whose employers do not offer health benefits, choose to purchase their own coverage privately. The laws concerning individual health insurance products are different than the laws regulating group coverage, and the requirements vary significantly on a state-by-state basis. This section helps consumers understand how individual insurance is regulated in their area, and it also helps explain the state-specific options available to individual consumers who have serious medical conditions that may preclude them from obtaining traditional coverage. Furthermore, this section contains information about the entities that regulate the individual market, so that consumers can contact them if they have questions or concerns. People who are looking to purchase health insurance on an individual basis can go to NAHU's Find An Agent feature to find an NAHU member in their area to help them buy coverage.

Traditional Private Individual Health Insurance
This section provides information about the regulation of the health insurance market in each state for individuals seeking private non-group health insurance coverage. This includes, for each state, an explanation of how individual health insurance policies are rated, any requirements regarding the issuance of coverage on an individual basis, how individual market carriers can treat preexisting health conditions, and what credit, if any, they need to apply against preexisting condition waiting periods for an individual's prior health plan coverage.

Coverage for Medically Uninsurable Individuals
Some people may have trouble obtaining traditional private market individual health insurance coverage due to a serious medical condition. The different states have adopted different means of providing access to individual market coverage for people who have a catastrophic medical condition, and they are all described in this section.

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