If your thinking about switching health insurance providers, there are some things you have to know before you do so. If you are cancelling your health insurance to transfer over to a new provider, it would be wise to only cancel the current policy when your new policy takes effect. Otherwise there would be a period in between policies that you would have no health insurance. If you had a medical emergency between that gap in insurance, there would be no way to receive coverage for medical costs.

It is extremely dangerous to go without insurance for any amount of time, especially when you have other people to provide for. Say that you canceled your policy prior to being accepted to your new policy, then you find out that you were denied. Now you are in a situation with no insurance, and have no plan to get the insurance you desire. If you really want to switch health insurance, make sure your new policy is active with all your specifications

When receiving a new health insurance policy, there is always a risk of having some limitations on coverage. If there was a condition that was discovered with your old health insurance carrier, that condition may or may not be covered with your new policy. That is something you will have to research on your new policy prior to cancelling your old one.

If it is found that a condition with your old insurance will not be covered with your new insurance, it will be classified as a “pre-existing condition”. There is one way to safely switch health providers and not have any “pre-existing” conditions not be covered, and that is when you switch from one group insurance policy to another. The main reason is that group insurance policies do not look at medical records as closely because the number of people without medical conditions almost always outweighs the number of people with them.

The biggest mistakes made when switching health insurance carriers is not knowing about pre-existing conditions. Now the person may have a slightly better policy, but something that was covered in their old policy is no longer covered with their new one. If you got your new health policy and found out there are some pre-existing conditions that are not covered, there may be some good news. Depending on the company, some pre-existing conditions will be covered after a specified waiting period. A lot of times the waiting period is no less than two years before coverage can begin, so check with your insurance company because every policy is different.