while awareness regarding the importance of an individual health insurance policy is now quite widespread many firsttime buyers particularly older buyers face a hurdle in the form of preexisting illness exclusion clause health insurers define a preexisting illness as any condition ailment injury or related conditions for which the insured had symptoms andor was diagnosed andor received medical advice or treatment within 48 months prior to the health policy with the company this article is for those who feel discouraged from buying health insurance because of this clausehealth policy is a musteven if certain ailments are not covered a health cover is a must also preexisting illness does not always preclude you from buying health insurance if an insurance seeker was suffering from an ailment four years before signing up for the policy and it is not chronic in nature for instance if he had injured his leg or had his gall stones removed there is no cause for concern however if it happens to be an illness that he contracted more than 48 months ago and it has persisted then he should declare the same explains sanjay datta head health insurance icici lombard general insurance thereon the decision of providing the cover the extent of coverage and the premium to be charged is at the insurance companys discretion for instance a patient suffering from a kidney failure is unlikely to obtain a health cover but in case of diabetes and hypertension the insurance company may take a call on the basis of the degree or type of illness supplementing group mediclaimsince group mediclaim policies typically cover preexisting illnesses as well employees may feel tempted to avoid buying an individual cover due to insurance premium however it may not be a wise decision the employer group mediclaim ceases to exist once the individual switches jobs or retires the former may bank on the group cover offered by new employers but retirees have no such luxury worse still it would be difficult to obtain an individual cover at that age instead its better to buy an individual policy while group insurance would cover any preexisting illness the individual policy will come in handy once the waiting period comes to an end or postretirement thus ensuring continuous coverage for the insured if a separate policy seems unaffordable you could opt for a topup plan which gets triggered only after the basic policys say the group policy sum insured is exhausted compare the waiting periodindividual mediclaim policies bring preexisting diseases into the ambit of coverage post the completion of waiting period therefore apart from the insurance premium being charged by various insurers you also need to compare the waiting periods stipulated in the policies for covering preexisting ailments some policies specify a waiting period of two years while in case of some it could extend to four years also check if certain conditions can be covered upon the payment of an additional premium for instance though new india assurance companys