|
Edited on Sun Sep-06-09 04:10 PM by Ms. Toad
HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is what guarantees issue of health insurance once you establish a year and a half of "creditable coverage."
COBRA isn't a way to pay the premiums - it is a guarantee (if you are at an employer with a large enough employee base) that you can continue to have access to health insurance once your employment ends for a brief period. HIPPA kicks in after all COBRAs expire (both federal and - if it is available - state). HIPPA guarantees issuance of insurance as an individual policy - so long as you don't have a gap of more than 63 days and follow a bunch of other somewhat complex rules that are difficult to find. It has not been implemented well.
Here's a decent summary of HIPPA guaranteed issue: www.goldeen.com/HIPAA409.pdf (Note the same acronym mistake in the file name that I made - it's hard to keep them straight, since they are so similar and both became effective relatively closely in time.)
The problem with HIPPA is (at least) three fold: (1) to be entitled to issue guaranteed issue you have to have had creditable coverage in the first place for 18 months, either directly or as part of a family policy (so if you are starting from scratch you are out of luck), (2) you have to understand (and not make any mistake in following ) the complex rules, and (3) you have to be able to afford to pay the premiums (which HIPPA doesn't limit - in Ohio, they are currently $14,000/year for a 19 year old).
As weak as HIPPA is, it did guarantee coverage for a significant additional population. Unfortunately since most people don't know about it and couldn't afford it if they did know about it - it hasn't had a wide impact.
|