Guaranteed issue is a term used in health insurance to describe a situation where a policy is offered to all (or almost all, depending on local regulations) applicants, regardless of the health status of the applicant. Often this is the result of guaranteed issue statutes regarding how health insurance may be sold, or to provide a means for people with pre-existing condition

Pre-existing condition

A pre-existing condition is a risk with extant causes that is not readily compensated by standard, affordable insurance premiums. Pre-existing condition exclusions by the insurance industry are meant to cope with adverse selection by potential customers. Such exclusions have become a topic in the...

s the ability to obtain health insurance of some kind.

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, all health policies sold in the small group market (generally employers of 2 to 50 employees) must be sold on a guaranteed issue basis. However, only a handful of states require insurers to sell coverage on this basis in the individual health insurance market.

Under new Federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...

, all new policies nationwide in the individual health insurance market will also be guaranteed issue by 2014.