Health Insurance Coverage for the Unemployed When Your COBRA Runs Out – HIPAA
Mohammed had mentioned a program called HIPAA in class. HIPAA allows you to continue your health care benefits at a lower cost when your COBRA runs out. Of course there are certain eligibility requirements, but I wanted to share a few resources with you on the HIPAA program.
HIPAA Guaranteed-Issue Health Insurance Plans For Individuals & Families in California – Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield CA, Health Net, Aetna
Kaiser Permanente HIPAA Plan – What is HIPAA, Eligibility Requirements, How to Apply
What HIPAA Does and Does Not Do – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) includes important – but limited – protections for millions of working Americans and their families.
California Office of Health Information Integrity – Health Insurance Coverage Questions, HIPAA Portability, Title I – Health Care Access, Portability, and Renewability, Other HIPAA Law
I am not an expert on this program. You should contact your current or former health care provider to determine eligibility. From what I understand this may be a much more affordable solution for many of you.
Microsoft Office and Web Development Instructor for the Contra Costa Regional Occupational Program (ROP). Training consultant, amateur photographer, and a geek at heart.
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August 6th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Though this is right, there is no easy way to get this coverage. Insurance carriers for one do not want you on a policy through HIPAA because that means you most likely have some kind of pre-existing conditions. If you didn’t, you could have just gone through medical underwriting on any carrier. Insurance, by definition, is the avoidance of a unknown catastrophic loss. A carrier knows there going to suffer a loss if you have a condition, and they don’t want that if they can avoid it.
A Carrier will deploy many different techniques to try and get you to not take a HIPAA Plan. Unless you know exactly the right forms to fill out and how to fill those forms out correctly, you will still get denied, though the law is on your side.
“The law has nothing to do with right or wrong, fair or unfair. The law is about which side can afford to make the other party do that it wishes.” Carriers have loopholes, and only by experience can you MAKE a carrier take you, and even then its not easy, but it is possible.
P.S. There is only a 63 day window that you can get a HIPAA Guaranteed Plan, and even one hour over and you can be disqualified if the carrier chooses.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Thanks, we appreciate this information!