Need Help: Blue Cross Blue Shield

I believe if it is Montana BCBS, You will not be able to switch to gaurentee issue BCBS of ND. They are different entities. Maybe gaurentee issue Montana policy, but you would probaly get charged  reasonable and customary charges. I know if you had BCBS with ND that it would be gaurentee issue without pre-ex if you had coverage for the past 12 months. You should be able to contact BCBS of ND and verify info.
    
    Stitzo, regaurding 2014 you probably don't want that to come to fast because an individual policy thru insurance companies will go up 60 to 200%. Remember you get nothing for free!! They say you can keep your insurance thru your company but who will be able to afford $1200 to $2000 a month with a 2,000 deductible. So guess what you go on the gov't plan, yeah!!!!!

Yeah I know.  We are talking about it now.  With new laws the insurance companies will just study the law (loophole garden) and figure out a way to get their money reguardless of what the government does.

I believe the poster above is correct.  And I wouldn't put an ounce of faith in obamacare becoming reality.  In their haste to jamb this legislation through they forgot to instill language that if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional, only that portion of the bill would be rescinded.  As it sits now, if one item is unconstitutional the whole thing goes down in flames.  I predict 99% probability it will be crushed.  Then you add in what appears will be a republican landslide this fall, the thing will be repealed anyway. 

I will be forced to get on BCBS ND through an employer.  Or I can purchase my own policy and go through the 12 month waiting period before they will provide coverage for pre-existing conditions.

The problem is most employers force new employees to wait three to twelve months before they allow them to join a group plan.

It is risky to go even a week without health insurance.  If a major accident happens...you can kiss your bank account goodbye.

Yeah, and I know about COBRA.

I need to find a JOB with BCBS ND where I can get off of work by at LEAST 5 PM so I can go teach my DUI seminar 6-10 at night.

My current schedule which I have been doing for the last 2 1/2 years is... work 6AM - 2PM, go pick up the kids at 3 from school, take a load off for 2 hours then go teach DUI Seminar at 6PM-10PM Monday - Thursday....with an insurance policy through MEDICA.

A private policy through MEDICA is outrageously expensive...not an option.

Just buy a catastrophic plan that covers your  butt until you can enroll.  pick up an aflac or something like that cheap just for accidents till then also.

Stizostedion vitreum Said:
I will be forced to get on BCBS ND through an employer.  Or I can purchase my own policy and go through the 12 month waiting period before they will provide coverage for pre-existing conditions.

The problem is most employers force new employees to wait three to twelve months before they allow them to join a group plan.

It is risky to go even a week without health insurance.  If a major accident happens...you can kiss your bank account goodbye.

Stizo - I sent you a PM

Pretty sure you can Stizo, even with the preexisting condition.  At least it always has been. 
That's one advantage of BC/BS in that it is transferrable to other state plans if you change jobs or move from state to state.   If you get a regular insurance company coverage, often if you change states you are screwed, if you develop a preexisting condition.
Med insurance companies like auto insurance companies, only want to insure good drivers and healthy people.  Not that I'm a salesman for BC/BS, but having been on a panel of people deciding on what group policy is best, it looked at least at the time, that BC/BS was the best for various reasons that you don't consider and the average person doesn't know about.    Things change, though.
Yes, there is COBRA and also CHAND, the ND backed plan who insure high risk people that regular insurance companies won't touch.   If all else fails, look into CHAND!   I was covered by both COBRA then CHAND so I know how it is when you can't get insurance and risk everything you own if you get some bad disease or accident.  Makes you appreciate ND govt. backed CHAND! 
Also Fed.  govt. backed Medicare when you get old and the older population becomes  progressively uninsurable!   Then you understand what some of the battles about medical insurance are about.   Not that I'm saying that the current administration is doing things right or wrongly, but at least they are daring to tackle it.   It'll cost them the next election, though.
Good luck.

So,  is the coverage with BCBS Montana any better or any worse than the coverage with BCBS North Dakota?  What is the difference in coverage if any?

And I can transfer from a policy with BCBS Montana to a policy with BCBS North Dakota without any waiting period or penalties?

I hate this insurance crap...

I've never heard of anyone changing from one states BCBS plan to another without underwriting.

Best go to the local BC/BS office and askthem.    It's also important to realize that BC/BS is a COMPANY, not a policy, and they sell dozens if not hundreds of different policies varying from plain Jane ones to super cover everything policies.    What you are asking might depend on your particular policy, though as a rule, at least back when I was involcvd in it, the Blues would allow switching between states without problems. 
With insurance crunches with more claims and more high tech bills  things might have changed.  

Stizostedion vitreum Said:
Yeah I know.  We are talking about it now.  With new laws the insurance companies will just study the law (loophole garden) and figure out a way to get their money reguardless of what the government does.

Ya, those evil insurance companies. How dare they expect people to pay for the benefits that are provided. SOB's.

The company I used to work for had BC BS of Illinios, they reorganized the division I worked for was closed so I did the Cobra thing for a few months then got a policy from BC BS ND, they will write you a policy even if you have preexisting conditions as long as you don't let the policy you have now laspe before getting new policy if you let it laspe then they can shut you out for preexisting conditions, you may not get exactly the same policy you had before but they will sell you some type of coverage, this was in 2007 for me but guessing still the same today

You are right, Harleyyukon.  BC/BS is portable from one state to the next.     
Coverage any better in one state than another?   Remembering that BC?BS is a company who writes many policies of all kinds, cheap and expensive, and  like most things, you get what you pay for. And some policies let you exclude things that you don't need, like maternity care for older people, and a lot of other things.
  And as medical costs vary from state to sate, risk factors that the actuarials figure with can vary too, so identical policies may cost quite differently from state to state.
If an employer ops for a particular cheapie policy, that's generally  what you'll get offered when you change states.  A good one, you will be better off. 
So you have to take your Montana policy down and ask them the particulars about YOUR policy, changing it over, portability, etc.  Never two policies or two people's situations are alike.
A lot of companies will get around the preexisting clause by putting a rider on it for a specified period of time, 90 days up to a year, and either disallowing any claims regarding this condition, or charging you extra for coverage.   Some preexisting conditions will follow you for life, some only temporarily for as little as a few months and some not at all. 
And bear in mind that some things companies consider preexisting are NOT supported by present medical knowlege and should NOT be considered preexisitng at all, and you might be able to change their mind and bring them up to date if you have a physician or care giver who will go to bat for you.    Takes a lot of time and effort but sometimes does pay off for the patient.  Insurance company's medical advisors tend to be older people who are not as up to date as they should be and they want to work 9 to 5 and take things easy.  Some can be "edicated" fairly easily, providing you can get someone to write letters and make phone calls, none of which can ever be billed by the health care provider, by the way.
The whole insurance thing is terribly compicated and confusing.  Both my wife and I've been in this business all our lives and when I get a doc or hospital bill, we have a devil of a time even trying to figure out if we owe something, what we owe or when or where to pay it! 
Billions of health care dollars go into the administration and billing and the complicated things just regarding paying the bills by insurance companies.   A lot of it is very wasteful, but no one has tried to figure out a better way. 

 This thread says a lot about current health care insurance in the US, just saying, and this thread is just touching on what a million people have to deal with.

it's a classic example of why there needs to be no state boundries in selling/writing health insurance policies.  There is tons of different laws from state to state that are causing costs to grow very rapidly. 

Kaptain Said:
 This thread says a lot about current health care insurance in the US, just saying, and this thread is just touching on what a million people have to deal with.

These are absolutely the worst people to deal with.  If anything happens with your claims expect to spend a lot of time on the phone with a supervisor.  Just my two cents from personal experience. 

Thanks guys.  I really appreciate the feedback.  I have learned alot from this thread so far.  It is ALWAYS nice to hear the things that the insurers don't want you to know.  I hope to learn more tips and tricks from people who have been there as clients and from past and present Insurance agents.  That is how big companies make the majority of their money...through the ignorance of their clients.

Had a nice weekend in MN.  Kids literally caught well over a hundred panfish, and I caught a 17 inch largemouth!  We released everything.

Later.  Stizo :)

one of the worst things with bcbs is that if you are out of state, everything but emergencies have to be pre approved.  what a hassle.  one last thing.  bcbs covers roughly 90% of all north dakotans.  we have more elderly per capita than most any other state.  so common sense will tell you that you are healthy, why would you want to get into a pool with so many sick and elderly people.  the claims to loss ratio is way out of wack.  this is why the cost of bcbs plans in nd is so ridiculously high.

I will give some general advice to anyone that has health insurance. Know your policy well and question everything. They will screw you out of every cent they can. I am fortunate enough to work in a Union shop that has been afforded an IPS (insurance problem solver) and this individual has saved our members thousands of dollars. We got this position because our HR department is shorthanded and maybe a little disinterested, to say the least. To make a long story short, the company I work for is self-insured, but of course has contracted a firm to manage the paperwork. They make a lot of mistakes, and for some reason, they are never in the employees favor. Even at that, as an individual you have to keep on top of things in a timely matter because there is a time frame in which a dispute has to be acted on or you are SOL.