Hi all... I was covered under my father's insurance since forever ago, but he recently lost his job and so I am just under a catastrophic type of insurance that he has until he finds a good job. I was diagnosed with PCOS in June of 06 and my dad's insurance was covering everything at that time. I will be able to get my own insurance when I graduate next December, so I'm hoping it'll be a group plan through work when I get a job and it will cover PCOS. My question is, when that time comes and the dreadful "pre existing condition" question comes up, what is the best thing to do? If I tell the insurance company that I have PCOS, they may deem me with the pre existing condition thing and I will have to wait a long time. Or should I just not mention that I have it? And then go in for my lab work and get my prescriptions after my coverage begins? There will probably also be a gap in coverage since our current temp insurance will run out before I graduate/get a job next Dec.
i toldour ins carrier i had pcos and high blood pressure...they were going to check with doctors anyways, so i figured it be best not to lie and i did have to wait 9 months to use the insurance for those issues. it's tough paying out of pocket for expensive meds...sometimes it's 'pay the mortgage' or 'get your meds'.
i don't know where you live, but can you go to your local social services and apply for medicaid or something like it? in NY we have child health plus (which isn't exactly medicaid becuase you pay a small co-pay). look into something like that in the inbetween time.
Well I am a full time college student and for income I have a part-time on-campus job and a small amount from student loan refund that I use to live on... so I'm not sure I'd qualify for Medicaid.. thanks for the input!
If you are in school, the college usually offers medical insurance for students. If you time it right, you can probably keep it until you get a job. Once you get a job, if the employer has group insurance, they cannot ask you any questions about pre-existing conditions.
Definitely check with the school about insurance. They usually have something for students. As long as you have continuous coverage you shouldn't have a problem. Your new insuarnce will ask for a Certificate of Creditable Coverage that your previous insurance will provide. If you have a break in coverage you may have a certain period of time before pre-existing conditons are covered. If you have a diagnosis of PCOS you won't be able to keep it secret because it's in your records. If you don't disclose the PCOS and insurance pays for things that would normally not be covered, you might have to pay this back if it's discovered in the future. Better to tough it out for a few months. Your DR might be able to give you some samples or switch you to a generic during that time to offset the out-of-pocket expense.
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I applied for health insurance when I was 20 and was denied by Blue Cross based on my acid reflux and allergiees/asthma. I didn't have PCOS at the time. I didn't know about my college's insurance, but they accepted me and the rates were pretty reasonable. It wasn't the best insurance but I didn't care because the year before I'd had surgery and had no insurance at all, and so it was better than nothing.
Since then I've been diagnosed with more problems and it's not a good idea not to have insurance, as I'm sure most of you know. When I graduated from college I had the option to extend my coverege for six months, which I did while I investigated private insurance. So even though I wasn't in college, I still kept that insurance and had no lapse in coverage, so no pre-existing condition waiting period.
If so, metformin (generic glucophage) is on Walmart's $4 prescription list. Actually, I just got my first met RX filled there (30 500mg tablets) for less than $3. Definitely make sure you get insurance coverage (not just for the PCOS, but what if, god forbid, you were involved in an accident or something), but knowing where to get RXs filled for cheap helps too!
I am also a full time college student who works on campus and uses loan refunds to survive on, and I more than qualified for Medicaid. It's worth checking out. DO NOT go without insurance. I did and it was horrid.
If worse comes to worse, your college should have some sort of plan available, too, if it is a four year school.
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PCOS and insurance issues... what do you do? 
Are you on glucophage or metformin? 
