As in many other states, health insurance in CA  provides limited guarantees to individual policy holders in exchange for premiums. However, note that a private individual insurance follows entirely different rules. Your capacity to get a California individual health insurance will depend on your current state of health and other related factors. There are certain cases when insurance companies will be more than happy to insure you, while certain circumstances compel them to decline your application.

Individual health insurance in CA is simply getting a private coverage through a legitimate insurance company. Although they are probably one of the most expensive of health policies, approximately 5% of the American population has individual coverage. Individual plans are usually the least expensive health insurance you can get access to. However, its main disadvantage is that they don't accept those that currently suffer from any form of health conditions or whose lifestyle they might consider high risk. California individual health insurance companies vary in terms of their acceptance, and decisions are usually subjective.

As mentioned earlier, California individual health insurance policies follow a different set of rules. You can be denied of individual health insurance in CA if you have a serious medical condition such as HIV or cancer. However, you will be an exception if you are eligible with HIPAA. Citizens of CA that have HIPAA eligibility can not be turned down by companies for individual insurance. They also enjoy the advantages of being free from pre-existing condition exclusion periods and certain premium limitations.

The California Department of Insurance mandates that if you have been covered by either an individual or a group policy, and assuming that you have had no missed payments or breaks in coverage not longer than 62 days, the new insurance company should be compelled to give you creditable health coverage for the previous insurance. Moreover, if you already have purchased a California individual health insurance, the coverage will not be cancelled if you are struck by any illness.

California individual health insurance companies have been granted the right to ask questions regarding your medical history. They usually impose stringent requirements to make sure they know almost every aspect of your health and lifestyle. For those with pre-existing conditions or those with rather unhealthy lifestyle, most insurance companies have developed a way to insure "uninsurable" people through individual coverage high-risk pools. In most cases the insurance company will agree to cover you, but will either increase your premium to cover certain conditions, or exclude specific conditions from your coverage as they deem necessary.

Getting an individual health insurance in CA does not necessarily mean that the policy only covers you, the policy holder. This type of health insurance is also available for your dependents and families. There are a wide variety of California individual health insurance plans that provide various types of coverage. The state of California requires health insurance companies a list of mandatory benefits that get updated every now and then. This list should be made available for you.