I have a mental health claim. How can I stop this claim from ruining my health insurance prospects?

If you briefly needed mental help and now have a mental health claim, this might get in the way of your health insurance prospects. After all, the healthier you are the better chance you will have of finding a proper health insurance policy.
According to Karen Politz, a Georgetown University research who co-authored a study on the individual health insurance market for the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) with Kathy Thomas and Richard Sorian, you might be on your way to becoming uninsured.
Insurers might not accept giving you a policy with them if your medical history includes:

• According to researchers with Georgetown’s Health Privacy Project, you could be denied individual health insurers even if you briefly sought counseling for depression, grief, a sleep or eating disorder or anxiety. 

• If you used prescription drugs to treat a physical condition, depression or anxiety. These prescription drugs include: Zoloft, Xanax, Serzone, Wellbutrin, Klonipin, Paxil, Prozac, or Ativan.

Pollitz says, “People who’ve always had group health insurance are completely unprepared when they’re forced to seek coverage in this (individual health insurance) market.

They think they’re going to get the same coverage they had in their jobs, except they’ll just have to pay a little more money. It’s absolutely not like that at all. The individual health insurance market is unpredictable, inconsistent and expensive.”

Don’t worry. Even though it is very hard to seek individual health insurance after having a mental health claim on your medical history, it is still possible and can be done.

According to KFF study’s authors, it will take a great deal of persistence and there will be no guarantees. Even if you will be offered a policy, it will be a lot more expensive than group health insurance.

The best option that you can do is fill out as many applications as you possibly can and see who is going to accept you. In fact, you should shop around. What can be better than shopping around? There will be an individual health insurer that will give you a policy.
 
If you are going to be denied once again, try to get a letter supporting your re-application from your doctor. Also, when you are asking your doctor, ask him what else you can do. If not, just ask for the letter and shop around for yourself. Send this letter with your application to the insurance company that you wish to purchase a policy from. Having a mental health claim on your medical history is tough, but you can still have health insurance.