Is The Pre Existing Exclusion Period Too Long?
Injuries can be sustained due to a number of reasons. Depending on the severity of an injury, a person may feel chronic pain, meaning that the injury never fully heals. As a result, if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, the old injuries may flare up, on top of your newly formed injuries. For this reason, you may attempt to file a disability claim, in which you receive compensation, for both the new and continuous injuries. However, as we’ll discuss today, insurance companies have become very specific in what they are and aren’t willing to cover in your accident claim. Here is a look at whether or not the pre-existing exclusion period for chronic pain is too long.
The goal of the insurance company is to make the most money possible, while paying out the least amount of money. With this in mind, many insurance companies set up a clause in a policy called the pre-existing exclusion period. This clause, essentially allows for the insurance provider to pick and choose what they are willing to cover. For example, if you have a chronic injury, that is made worse as the result of your new accident, you may be disqualified from filing compensation.
Many insurance companies, set up this policy, with the limitation period being 60 months, or equating to five years. The reason for this is to avoid fraud when paying out clients. Prior to the clause being established, a person that had sustained an injury weeks prior to their current claim, could file for compensation, even if the injury wasn’t necessarily sustained in the accident. With this being the case, the insurance companies were losing a ton of money, because they were paying out five times as much for injury compensation, despite studies showing that real injuries weren’t occurring as frequently.
By establishing a 60-month exclusion period, the insurance companies are stating that you have to have used up your previous compensation before you can file a new claim. In other words, because you received an injury five years ago and still feel the ill effects, you would have a paper trail documenting your first injury. This in turn, can indicate to the insurance company, that you really did sustain and go through the compensation awarded for your injuries, rather then make up a false chronic pain claim. Since you have met the requirement of the pre-existing exclusion, you can’t have your claim denied if you file for fresh compensation to cover the damages both that you previously sustained, and what you have received in your new accident.
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