Obesity, Behavioral or Learning Disorders, ADD and ADHD, Land or Water Vehicle Racing, Mental and Emotional Disorders, Alcohol and Drug Addiction/Abuse, Maternity Benefits

What follows is a breakdown of specific exclusions from coverage found in a typical individual health insurance policy.

Obesity: Under this sample policy, medical expenses for the treatment of obesity are not covered. In short, they are paid for out-of-pocket. It is obviously not regarded as an illness, but there may be situations where certain aspects of treatment may become medically necessary even if the onset of the obesity is regarded as a willful, voluntary act. If the health of the Insured is at risk and there are non-experimental medical treatments available that are not for vanity purposes and appear to be the only option then available (in other words, it is too late to just adjust the diet), a good case can be made for medical necessity.

Behavioral and learning disorders: Behavioral and learning disorders are just not considered illnesses to be covered by a health insurance policy.

Land or water vehicle racing: Sorry, Jeff Gordon, you are out of luck. The risk while engaging in land or water vehicle racing, voluntarily done, is just too great for the insurance company to include.

Mental and emotional disorders, alcoholism and drug addiction/abuse: The coverage for mental and emotional disorders, alcoholism and drug addiction/abuse is very carefully limited to that provide in the specific Policy provision addressing that coverage.

Maternity coverage: This is standard for maternity coverage to be available by purchase of a "Maternity Benefit Rider". If this coverage was included in the policy, the insurance companies would be exposing themselves to what is called anti-selection, where people would buy the coverage when they were planning to have a baby. There would be no pre-existing condition exclusion unless the wife was already pregnant and all the other policyholders would be exposed to higher premiums to cover those people who elect to buy insurance when they have decided to have a baby.

*Wording may vary from contract to contract and from state to state.