I am 28 years old and recently found out I had Juvenile Rheumatoid arthritis at age 3. I have individual insurance and did not list arthritis when they asked about medical history. My JRA went into remission and I never even knew about it. I am now having knee pains and am worried that it could be rheumatoid arthritis. Will my previous JRA count as a pre existing condition and prevent further treatment from being covered by my policy? Also, is it very likely that my JRA has developed into RA? I am researching as much as I can, but I haven't been able to find answers to these questions yet. Thanks so much for your help.
No, and yes. LoL
It shouldn't count against you. MOST insurance policies will cover anything pre-exsisting that hasn't been treated in the last 6 months before signing up. Some say 18 months. Either way, you're covered. If it really has been that long since you've had a flare, I would consider this plain ol' "RA" I do, and I've been fighting it on and off for about that long as well. (I'm 24, was dxed at 18months)
Try not to fret too hard, this happens to a lot of us. Get yourself to a doctor and get things under control now, while you still can. If you're still unsure about your insurance, just call them.
Good luck!!
Thank you for your quick response. This has been freaking me out quite a bit. I am researching RA as much as I can, and can honestly say I'm pretty scared. I live a very active lifestyle and I'm terrified that I will be greatly slowed down by RA. I am finally owning up to the fact that I probably have it, I have been avoiding it for a long time.
What are your symptoms? What do you know about when you were 3? What are your fears? Share away! I have all night and I know lots about it!! Katie is right, RA is barely a "blip" when being covered by insurance. By the way, welcome!I'm sorry I have to disagree a bit with Katie. she is correct in saying that generally with individual policies there is a waiting period for preexisting conditions. Check your policy for the specific length of time for your policy.
The problem is with the inadvertant non disclosure of the JRA. Sepending on the policy that could constitute fraud and could cancel your entire policy immediatly. It all depends on the wording of your policy.
You might find it helpful to have the policy reviewed by a lawyer to fin out what your rights and responsibilites are
Good Luck
Oh you're the best! I know that when I was young there was something wrong, I guess I don't know if it was swelling or what, but it involved my right knee, my right wrist and the right side of my jaw. The only thing I remember is pitching a fit when my mom tried to put a splint on my leg. I will have to ask her more questions about it, thus far she has told me that they decided it was JRA because they couldn't come up with anything else to call it. As far as I know that was it. I grew up normally I guess with no problems at all. Over the past few years I have had minor aches in my right knee from time to time. Definitely worse when it's cold, seems worse in high humidity. Also, my right knee joint has always been a little bit less flexible than my left. I have actually done quite a bit of running over the years with no real problems until last month. I started working out regularly again at the end of August, walking and running, elliptical, lifting weights. It was fine with no pain for the first month and then all of a sudden started stiffening up on me, and swelling up. For the past month or so it has been sore, so I have not been running, and stopped lifting weights, only doing elliptical training. But the stiffness is not going away and as of today I can't bend it much past 90, and I can't straighten it 100 percent either. It is also still swollen. I am walking with a noticable limp. I went to a walk-in clinic yesterday and didn't mention arthritis, because I didn't know I had ever been diagnosed, and they just sent me away with no real diagnosis and some pain pills. Sorry that got long, but that's where I'm at. I appreciate your help.
I don't think that if YOU weren't even aware you had a condition, they will hold it against you. Especially since I'm pretty sure JRA and RA are coded seperately, so they wouldn't even nessecarily have to know that you had JRA in the first place.
But it's always good to call them anyway. HI Special and welcome, I worked in health insurance for 14 years and wether they cover you or not will all come down to one question, when did you first consult your Dr about this illness/condition. As your "arthritis" has not been active for so long, I would just mention your most recent consult re this illness. Hope that helps. You could have completely forgotten about your childhood experience so let it rest. Hugs Janie. They sometimes send the same question to your DR, is he a relatively new Dr or did you see him as a child, if hes a reasonable bloke, ask him the question yourself.
Thanks Janie. I am not sure if I understood what you said. I just went to the dr for my knee yesterday. Other than that I haven't been to a doctor for it since before I can remember. Should I check with my pediatrician if he's still around? The doctor I saw here, or not even really a doctor was a nurse practicioner at an urgent care clinic. I am traveling for work and will try to make an appointment with a Dr. when I get home.
I am worried that if I don't mention my JRA it will delay proper diagnosis of what is going on now? Thank you all for your answers and support. I realize I sound like a bit of a weenie as I'm writing all of this, but I am a bit doctoraphobic and have always avoided going at all costs so this is all new to me.
Thanks again!!
Disclosure, disclosure...The insurance company doesn't care whether or not you remembered. All they care about is at one time you were diagnosed with JRA and it wasn't mentioned on the application. The insurance company doesn't care that you forgot. The insurance company looks at this as fraud, even though you innocently forgot.
I'd be very careful and investigate throughly the prexisting language of your health insurance benefit booklet. There are some insurance companys who go beyond the prexisting language and deny claims based on manifestation of the disease. This means that you had symptoms but didn't see a doctor. Your claims can be denied based on manifestation of symptoms. If your doctor wrote a note in the history and pointed out that you had symptoms of JRA and they were mild and you never sought treatment, then the claims can be denied based on manifestation.
If the insurance company suspects or has rheumatoid arthritis as a red flagged disease for further investigation then they'll pull records from every physician you've seen from day one.
I don't mean to scare you but you need to know how a health insurance company works in the states. Not all companys do this but some do. Do your homework and if need be call and talk to a representative about prexisting. Don't give them any information but ask for an explanation of prexisting that a lay person can understand. It can be very confusing. I've had to call my insurance for clarification even though I worked in the health insurance industry, both at an health insurance company and then the fraud unit with the state insurance dept. Lindy
| They sure held it against me! Had a policy cancelled for "pre-existing" when I hadn't been diagnosed. I just had a bunch of symptoms that docs couldn't put together. |
Pre existing when you didn't know about it? DO you have any idea of how many things could have happened to your body since you were that young of an age? Do you realize how many people are misdiagnosed, or under diagnosed?
Insurance companies will do whatever they want to do regardless of whether it is right or not. I know for a fact that you have to have proof........black and white paper with a date and dx on it proof.
I have been denied by so many insurance companies due to RA that I cannot even give you a count. My mother has carried her insurance for a bazillion years and never even used it until this past year. DO I worry about her pre existing, not really, she only had High blood pressure then later a few years ago Diabetes. That is it. What I fear is that insurance companies will stop paying for mental health issues, and medications....at least they pay a little bit. Psychotropic medication is right up there with the biolics, well maybe not the 00 a month ones but I think you get the idea.
RA is nearly impossible to live and cope with then you have to worry about insurance not paying for this and that and when you were dx and such, not to mention the high cost of all the side junk that goes on.
You poor thing having to worry about all this just because you didn't mention you were dx at a young age with JRA. I never even knew I had JRA till my sister told me about 3 years ago, my mother nor my dad never told me. I am 50.
I realize freud is a big issue nowadays, what a shame that people have committed such awful crimes to make it worse for others. I wish you luck. I agree, call your insurance company.
jode
Thanks. I am trying to get up the nerve to call them. I am terrified about what they are going to say. I am even more scared about the thought that I might have RA. I have been reading and reading about it for the past few days, and I don't like what I'm reading. I'm just not ready to go through all of that and really would like to hide from it. I am hoping against hope that I just overworked my knee, the swelling will go down, and it will be a false alarm. Unfortunately, after 4 days of rest I'm showing no improvement. I was taking hope in the fact that RA is usually in both joints at the same time, not one or the other. Now my left knee is starting to stiffen up... I am going to wait the 2 weeks that the nurse practicioner suggested, try to figure out what to do about my insurance, and when I get home from my work trip I will get an appointment with a real doctor and try to start the process of diagnosis.
Thank you all for your advice and your kind words. Everyone here seems very strong and I already appreciate your support.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Medical-Insurance-Glossary---Commo n-Terms-Youll-Need-To-Know&id=591781
i found this website and if you scroll down the page you will find out about an unknown pre existing condition
Good luck