Medical underwriting

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Healthcare policy in the U.S.
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Obamacare glossary • Effect of Obamacare • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Medical underwriting refers to the process by which a health insurer evaluates whether to accept an applicant for health coverage and what premium to charge the applicant. As a consequence of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurers were no longer allowed to reject applicants because of their health status. Insurers were also not permitted to differ premiums because of health status. With these changes, the ACA effectively prohibited the process of medical underwriting.[1][2][3]

Prior to the ACA, insurers would examine factors such as pre-existing conditions to determine whether to offer coverage and at what price. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, rejection rates for pre-existing conditions nationwide ranged from 0 percent to 30 percent in 2013, with a nationwide average of 18 percent.[1]

## See also[edit]

* Obamacare overview
* History of healthcare policy in the United States
* Guaranteed issue

## External links[edit]

* Healthcare.gov glossary

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kaiser Family Foundation, "How Buying Insurance Will Change Under Obamacare," accessed May 26, 2016
2. ↑ healthinsurance.org, "Medical underwriting," accessed May 26, 2016
3. ↑ Healthcare.gov, "Medical Underwriting," accessed May 26, 2016

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