Insurance Jungle: Conditions Regarding Pre-Existing Conditions

Whether you’re buying international student health insurance or visitor medical insurance, the insurance company will have some restrictions on medical conditions that the applicant already suffers from. However, it is important to understand the wording of such exclusions, as it might mean a difference between getting your claim approved and not.

One visitors’ health policy may define a pre-existing condition as a condition that ‘would have caused a person to seek medical advice, or for which the applicant sought medical advice during the 36 months prior to the Effective Date of Coverage of the Policy.’

Another visitors’ health insurance plan may simply define a pre-existing condition as ‘Any condition or ailment that, with reasonable medical certainty, existed at the time of Application or at any time during the three years prior to the Effective Date of the Initial Period of Coverage, whether or not previously manifested or symptomatic, diagnosed, treated or disclosed.’

Note that the second policy will not cover ailments that the applicant is unaware of, which is what typically happens with several chronic ailments such as heart disease and most types of cancer. Be careful and read the fine print before signing on to any visitor health insurance or student health insurance plan.