Group Health Insurance Waiting Period
You have just entered your career as employee in a reputed firm. One of the reasons for your choosing this particular employment is the health insurance plan offered by the employer. However, there is a waiting period for you to be eligible for coverage under such health insurance plan.
What then is the typical waiting period for gaining eligibility for coverage under the group health insurance? You could refer to the US Government surveys or the report of the Kaiser Family Foundation in this regard. The average waiting time for becoming eligible for health coverage in respect of small firms is around 2.1 months. The same period in case of larger enterprises comes to around 1.2 months only. The overall average in the market is around 1.5 months.
These waiting periods however are not uniform in respect of all types of insurance coverage in United States. There are some insurance plans that have waiting period of 12 to 18 months with pre-existing conditions. However, most state laws as well as the federal laws prohibit refusal of insurance on the basis of pre-existing conditions. They do not cover the waiting period and at times the insurance provider takes shelter with such waiting period provisions for unwelcome beneficiaries.
Reasons for such attitude of the insurance Companies is that they do not find such cases profitable propositions. The beneficiary gets insurance coverage benefits and the employer gets section 105 or section 125 tax benefits. There are however, good providers who do not discriminate you on the basis of your pre-existing conditions.