A: According to www.healthcare.gov , underwriting is a process used by insurance companies to try to figure out your health status when you're applying for health insurance coverage to determine whether to offer you coverage, at what price, and with what exclusions or limits.

You won’t have to go through medical underwriting (in other words, answer any medical questions) if you apply for your Medicare Supplement plan within six months of your Part B effective date.

You will have to go through the underwriting process if you apply for the first time or switch to a policy from a different company after that six month period.

Our underwriting team at Farm Bureau Health Plans reviews Medicare Supplement applications for the following eight conditions. Applicants will not be sold a supplement if they have been treated for any of these conditions within the last five years:

• Heart attack or Congestive Heart Failure
• Cancer, other than skin cancer
• Stroke or Trans Ischemic Attack (TIA)
• Kidney Failure or Disease
• Diabetes
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Multiple Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS)
• Muscular Dystrophy

Moral of the story: Be sure to apply within six months of your Part B effective date if a Medicare Supplement is the insurance you want to go along with your Medicare. That – and stay as healthy as you can!