Unintended Consequences

Last week I finally got around to ordering health insurance for myself. The window of time to get insurance without an official gap in coverage was swiftly drawing to a close. I had already gotten insurance for my wife through her employer. Since she is not a full time employee, she does not automatically receive insurance, but she is given the option to buy into her employer’s plan. We were especially interested in having her insured since we are expecting the birth of our first child in late January or early February. Now buying into this plan is rather pricey, but having done the math, it looks to be somewhat less expensive than paying the hospital bill out of pocket if all goes well, and much cheaper if there are any complications. So, there is nothing too unexpected here. No one really wants to insure a pregnant woman, but an employer’s HMO could care less, since they pay a flat fee to the doctor whether any services are provided or not.

The real surprise came when I applied for my own insurance. I am not interested in joining my wife’s plan, since it would more than double our premiums. Her employer only gives the option for single coverage or a family plan. Thus, this is not a cost effective way of covering just two individuals. Being a healthy 24 year old, I figured that procuring private insurance for myself would not be that hard. I shopped around a bit, and settled upon a plan with a moderate deductible, and a premium that is just a bit over a tenth of what we are paying for my wife’s insurance. However, just yesterday, I received the following letter:

Dear Mr. Simplicius,

Thank you for your application for health care coverage provided by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.

After careful review, we regret to inform you that we are unable to accept your application at this time due to YOUR SPOUSE’S PREGNANCY.

…

Sincerely,

Underwriting Department

Now, I was quite astonished when I read the letter. Since my wife was not being included on my policy, I could see no reason for her pregnancy to have any influence on whether or not I could receive coverage for myself. So, I called up the Underwriting Department and told them that there must be some mistake. I was not insuring my wife on this policy, and thus that she is pregnant should not be of any concern. However, to my amazement, I was told that I was mistaken. Her pregnancy was of the utmost importance to my insurer. The state requires insurers to add a newborn to either of the parents’ policies without underwriting, and since there could be many complications with a newborn, the insurance company would not offer private insurance policies to either parent.

Thus, I am uninsurable except through a group plan or through state insurance.

What sounded like a good bill to legislators, viz., requiring insurance companies to cover babies, just resulted in their parents, and thus the children as well, being uninsurable. Thank you Missouri, that was brilliant.