A Helpful Summary of Texas Medical Insurance Terms
The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute has written a series of health insurance guides that summarize the health insurance regulatory requirements in each individual state throughout the U.S. In preparing the summary guides, an analysis is completed of a state's regulations that are applicable to health insurance, as well as the applicable Federal regulations that apply within the United States. In addition, state-sponsored programs offered by the state government as their local Medicare program are analyzed and included in the guides.
Regulations associated with health insurance are very complex, and the majority of current state regulations are based on the Federal regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (also called HIPAA). In the Georgetown health insurance state guides, the HIPAA regulations on group health insurance, waiting periods for pre-existing conditions, COBRA continuation coverage and insurance portability are all summarized. By following the HIPAA guidelines carefully, a consumer may retain full-coverage health benefits as long as they choose after exiting from an eligible group plan. However, the timeline requirements are strictly enforced and, as coverage moves farther away in time from the qualifying health plan, the health coverage and premium rates will normally become less beneficial.
Since understanding both HIPAA regulations and state-sponsored Medicare plans will be very important to finding long-term health care insurance, the Georgetown University summaries should be required guidance early in the effort to find new health insurance. These guides are updated periodically by the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University and offer a current and complete look at health care and insurance in each of the fifty U.S. states. Click below to see the detailed Consumer's Guide to Getting and Keeping Health Insurance for the state you call home.