Osteoarthritis (OA) may be considered a pre-existing condition. If you change jobs or insurers and are already receiving treatment for OA, your new health insurance company may consider it a pre-existing condition. Whether you will be denied coverage or charged a higher premium depends on your health plan. Health insurance issuers and employer plans use different definitions.
However, under the Affordable Care Act, denying coverage or excluding benefits due to a pre-existing condition will no longer be allowed. For children under 19, this new protection begins this fall. For everyone else, this protection will be in place by 2014.