How Does Health Insurance 30-Day Grace Period Work?

When buying health insurance, it’s important to pick a policy with a maximum grace period. Health insurance with a 30-day grace period allows you more time to renew your policy.

Keep reading to know more about this grace period in health insurance.

What is Health Insurance 30-day Grace Period?

This 30-day grace period lets you have a fair chance to pay for your health insurance policy premium if you can’t make the payment for some reason.

Most health insurers offer 15 days grace period to pay for medical insurance renewal premium. However, there are some companies with a grace period of 30 days.

The grace period depends on the health insurer and the health insurance policy that you purchase.

Health insurers aren’t obligated to provide their health insurance policy owners to have a grace period. You must check with your health insurance to know if the policy has a grace period. If it includes a grace period, find out what the duration is.

Read: Health Insurance HMO vs PPO

How does the Grace Period work?

Health insurance grace period will protect policyholders from losing their coverage if they can’t pay their premium on time. Regulations regarding grace periods will depend on policy types and they are managed by states.

Some states allow health insurers to drop their policyholders immediately if the premiums aren’t paid on time.

Most health insurance companies want the grace period to be short as possible. This will prevent them from providing coverage while still waiting for a premium payment.

With grace period, the health insurer is still obliged to provide policyholders the services they need under their plan.

Read: Does Health Insurance Pay for a Hot Tub?

Is Grace Period the Same as Waiting Period?

These two terms aren’t the same.

The waiting period is the time it takes for you to wait before you can file a health insurance claim for a certain procedure or a disease.

A grace period, on the other hand, is the number of days you can still pay off your health insurance premium after the due date has passed.

Thus, if your premium is due on January 1, 2022, and your health insurance plan has a 30-day grace period, you still have up to January 31, 2022, to pay for your premium.

Failure to pay for your premium after that day will cause renewal request denial. Even if you make the payment later, your health insurer will drop you.

Read: Will Health Insurance Pay for a Wisdom Teeth Removal?

Why You Must Avoid Delaying the Premium Payment?

As long as you pay for your monthly premiums, you can enjoy the health insurance coverage benefits associated with your health insurance policy.

However, if you pay for your monthly premium during the grace period, you may not receive health insurance coverage.

It depends on your health insurance policy and the insurer.

Most of the time though, you can’t get coverage if you haven’t paid your monthly premium on time. During the grace period, you may not be allowed to avail of coverage benefits.

Another thing you must remember if you failed to pay for your monthly premium on time is that your renewal may be denied. It depends on your health insurer, your policy may not be renewed after it has lapsed.

If your health insurer won’t renew your health insurance policy, you need to purchase a new health plan. When that happens, you may have to pay for a higher premium and the accumulated coverage benefits will be lost.

Waiting Period will be Restarted

This is another advantage of not paying your monthly premium on time. Even if you have health insurance with a 30-day grace period, your health policy will lapse if you don’t pay during the grace period.

If it lapses, the waiting period for a certain illness will also be lost. It will be restarted if you purchase a new policy.

Wait Longer for Pre-Existing Coverage

When the health insurance policy lapses, you need to buy a new policy. And the new policy will have a new waiting period.

If you need medical care for your pre-existing condition, you can’t immediately file a claim. Every health insurance plan has a waiting period.

The health insurer will only cover your pre-existing diseases after the waiting period is over.

Is There a Late Fee When You Pay During the Grace Period?

Even though your health insurance policy has a grace period, your health insurer may still charge you a late fee.

Furthermore, your health insurer may charge you a higher premium if you frequently miss your policy renewal dates.

The Grace Period and Your Claims

You can only pay for your monthly premium within the grace period. Your health coverage will still be intact.

If something happens to you, you can still file a claim during this period. When the grace period ends and you didn’t pay the required premium, you can no longer file an insurance claim.

On the other hand, if your health insurance policy has no grace period, your health insurer will deny you coverage if you didn’t pay during your renewal date. It means that you can’t file any claim. Even if you pay for your monthly premium a day after the due date, you can no longer file a claim. Your health insurer will cancel your policy and you will have to purchase a new plan.

Conclusion

A health insurance 30-day grace period is an allowance given to you by your health insurer to renew your policy after the due date. If you failed to pay during the grace period, your health insurance policy will be canceled and you will have to buy a new health plan.

Are you looking for health insurance for family? Read this first.