Health insurance: Pre Existing Condition

There is usually a clause to exclude pre-existing condition in a health insurance policy.

Reason?

The policy cannot pay benefits for illnesses that the insured knew about before the policy was purchased. It excludes coverage for physical conditions that existed earlier, even those it was not discovered.

In better policies, the clause only exclude illness that were known to the insured before the commencement date. If an application had cancer, but was not discovered earlier, this policy will still cover this condition.

To reinforce the pre-existing condition, many policies also have a probationary clause. It states that the benefit will not be paid for illness that begins during a period (sometimes, 30 days) starting from the effective date.