We've all heard lately of the struggle to cover those people with pre-existing conditions under individual health insurance plans. However, what's defined as a "pre-existing condition" is sometimes an issue of its own.

At the New York Times it's revealed that women who have had a caesarean birth are considered by some individual health insurance agencies to have a pre-existing condition, since it's likely that they will have another such delivery should they become pregnant again.

The argument from the insurance agencies is that more and more women are having caesareans, and they cost more than regular deliveries. And further, hospitals often prefer to schedule a second caesarean in order to minimize the likelihood of a rare but fatal complication, uterine rupture.

But women argue that in most cases they haven't selected a caesarean birth, and would prefer to deliver naturally in a second birth. They feel it isn't fair for individual health insurance agencies to treat them as if they have an illness or disease.

Of course, not all health insurance agencies treat caesarians in this way. However, it's important for any woman who might have children, and who has, or will be searching for, individual health insurance to ask about their coverage for caesareans. This could allow the women to avoid elective caesareans in order to minimize costs, and to find the insurance agencies that best suit their needs.