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Pre-existing conditions can make it seem impossible to get or keep a decent and affordable individual health insurance policy. But as an article at U.S. News and World Report makes clear, covering up a past condition can lead to big trouble.

In insurance terms, pre-existing conditions can encompass any medical problem you have now or may have had years ago. If the ailment (or the history of it) makes you a high-risk patient, insurers and employers know that covering you could prove to be expensive. This is why insurance carriers can and will remove people from policies. But when it comes to individual health insurance, it's very important not to conceal a pre-existing condition.

Why? Because covering up a pre-existing condition that way would give the insurer an opening to refuse to pay any claim you later file, but the company will be happy to accept your premium payments in the meantime. In other words, they'll take the money and then refuse to pay if something happens to you. The moral here is that if you're a person looking for a good individual health insurance policy, shop around, compare rates, and be honest in your applications.