Guaranteed issue individual health insurance refers to health insurance that does not involve the process of medical underwriting and must be provided to an eligible applicant regardless of the applicant’s age, gender, or any pre-existing health condition prior to enrollment.
In five U.S. states (MA, ME, NY, NJ, VT) medical underwriting is not allowed - that is, all individual market insurance companies must provide guaranteed issue individual health insurance plans. In the remaining states, where medical underwriting is allowed in the individual market, the availability of guaranteed issue health insurance varies by state.