HIPAA
HIPAA offers protections for millions of workers that improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage. The act protects workers and their families by:
- Limiting exclusions for pre-existing medical conditions.
- Providing credit against maximum pre-existing condition exclusion periods for prior health coverage and a process for providing certificates showing periods of prior coverage to a new group health plan or health insurance issuer.
- Providing new rights that allow individuals to enroll for health coverage when they lose other health coverage, get married or add a new dependent.
- Prohibiting discrimination in enrollment and in premiums charged to employees and their dependents based on health status-related factors.
- Guaranteeing availability of health insurance coverage for small employers and renewability of health insurance coverage for both small and large employers.
- Preserving the states’ role in regulating health insurance, including the states’ authority to provide greater protections than those available under federal law.
Special enrollment rights are provided under various circumstances and discrimination is prohibited because of health status-related factors.
More information is available from the U.S. Department of Labor.
