›› HIPAA – Short term Insurance Cover

Most employees in the pre HIPAA era were afraid of leaving or switching jobs just due to the fear of loosing the much required health insurance coverage. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) changed he way people took health insurance.  The chief aim of the act was to streamline the sagging health care system in the country and to ensure that people who keen to change their jobs could do so and still continue to enjoy the quality health care insurance coverage. HIPAA ensures that a person who was covered under group health insurance plan should have the right to buy the same health insurance coverage within 12 months after he or she has no more under the last coverage without affecting the insurance premium to be paid and especially with no questions asked.

HIPAA helped employees, especially the ones who had difficulty in changing their jobs because of the fear losing their insurance cover. These persons were are not sure as to whether the new insurance coverage provided  in the new job will provide all the same benefits. HIPAA has specifically disallowed the practice and excuses any pre-existing conditions while determining insurance premium to be paid. It has barred the insurance companies from charging high premiums based on medical history related the health of an employee at the time the policy is renewed.

In case you are between switching jobs or are waiting for another medical insurance plan to come into effect, suddenly you may discover a gap in your medical insurance coverage. Usually, this period becomes a high risk period as actually you are effectively uninsured during this period. So what is the remedy? You can consider taking a short term insurance coverage. This coverage is just to bridge the gap and is usually available at very low premiums. Usually, these short-term medical insurance policies are available for periods less than six months. Yes, there are policies available which will cover your for a year but then the premium is quite high.