State RegulationsMA specificDifficulty 2/5
A Massachusetts resident applying for a Medicare supplement policy has a documented history of heart disease. What may the new Medicare supplement policy impose with respect to that condition?
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Answer & full 3-part explanation (select an option above, or peek)
Why B is correct
M.G.L. c. 176K, § 3(b) flatly forbids waiting periods and preexisting condition limitations or exclusions in Massachusetts Medicare supplement policies — no policy for Medicare supplement insurance may contain any waiting period or pre-existing condition limitation or exclusion. Massachusetts is stricter here than the familiar NAIC-style design that permits a six-month preexisting look-back, so the applicant's heart history can be neither delayed nor carved out of coverage.
Why the other options are wrong
- A) The six-month preexisting waiting period familiar from other regulatory models is precisely what M.G.L. c. 176K, § 3(b) prohibits in Massachusetts Medicare supplement policies.
- C) A condition-specific cardiac exclusion would be a preexisting condition limitation, which the Massachusetts statute disallows entirely.
- D) A permanent exclusion of the documented condition is an even more severe preexisting limitation and is equally forbidden under M.G.L. c. 176K, § 3(b).
Memory hook
Massachusetts Med supp: zero waiting, zero preexisting limits — no six-month look-back here.