In Florida, health insurance laws are put in place to protect citizens who have and use health coverage. It would be easy enough to allow Florida health insurance providers to run unregulated and have a buyer beware attitude.
Luckily, the state has put numerous statutes in place to ensure that consumers can be confident in the coverage they are buying, so they have a place to turn if they feel they have been treated unfairly. For this reason there are standards throughout the state. Health insurance laws in Florida make the purchase of health insurance a wise choice and an easy one.
Read on to learn some of the basic types of FL health insurance laws and then use the quote finder at the top of the page to view free Florida health insurance quotes instantly from top companies!
Florida Health Insurance Claims Laws
Florida health insurance laws dictate how insurers must deal with claims that are made by the insured or by a provider on your behalf. Insurers have a period of time in which they must respond to all bills, depending on how they are submitted. They must then pay or deny a claim within a certain period or the claim becomes their financial responsibility regardless of the validity of the claim. These claims periods change if the claim or a portion thereof is contested, depending on the response from the other party and if they submit any further documentation.
Adequate Notice of Terminations and Changes
One of the benefits of Florida health insurance laws is that insurers must provide adequate notice that a policy is being terminated. Even in the case of non-payment, a 10-day to 45-day notice must be given for terminating individual, group, or HMO health insurance. In the case of non-renewals, cancellation or expiration, typically a 45-day notice is required. Even for rate increases, an insurer must provide a 30-day warning. This protects the consumer from being dropped from coverage without having enough time to find an alternative.
Specific FL Health Insurance Coverage Laws
Many of the Florida health insurance laws are meant to address specific coverage issues, such as whether or not a policy must cover certain types of health care costs, treatments, outpatient services and more. They help to provide standards which are reasonable and include things such as the following:
- Acupuncture care is not required to be covered by health insurance, but in cases where it is, it must be treated following the same conditions as physician treatment.
- Chiropractic care must be included when physician care is covered by a health plan and must be done under the same conditions.
- Coverage for adopted children is automatically in place as soon as the child enters the family that has health insurance.
- Birthing centers and midwife services must be covered by health insurance plans and HMOs that offer maternity coverage.
- Newborn hearing tests are covered by the health insurance of the child’s family and will continue to cover any follow-up testing or work needed.
- Mammograms must be covered by all health insurance plans according to guidelines set out in the law in regards to frequency.
- Diabetes coverage must be provided by health insurance companies working within Florida.
- Child health supervision or well baby care must be covered according to all health insurance plans in the state, so that infants can be regularly seen, monitored, immunized and have appropriate tests done by a doctor when necessary.
- Podiatrist coverage is included provided the treatments are included in the specialty of the podiatric doctor.
- Maternity benefits, such as how long the mother and child stay in the hospital, are at the request of the doctor. No limit is placed by the insurer.
Other Florida health insurance laws cover a wide variety of topics to make sure you have reliable health insurance that is fair for you, the consumer. Many of the things covered include:
- Pre-existing conditions
- Licensing of agents, adjusters and representatives
- Waiting periods
- Different plans
- Eligibility for coverage and much more
Ask Questions
The bottom line in buying any type of Florida health insurance is to ask a lot of questions to make sure you understand what you are getting. There is not a single “best” policy, type or company for anyone. If you have questions, call our independent agents. They are not tied to any single insurer, so you can get unbiased information at no cost.
FL Health Insurance Laws and Consumer Rights
Knowing about how Florida health insurance laws protect your rights as a consumer will make it easy for you to confidently embark on the task of finding the best policy for your needs.
A great place to start for anyone looking for health insurance in Florida is our free online quote comparison tool at the top of this page. You simply provide the information that is requested and in no time you will be comparing rates and policies from the top providers serving your area.
Get started now with your Florida health insurance quotes!