A Helpful Summary of Washington Medical Insurance Terms
The Georgetown Health Policy Institute has written a series of health insurance guidebooks that outline the health insurance requirements in each individual state throughout the U.S. In developing the summary guides, an analysis is completed of a state's regulations relating to health insurance, as well as the Federal regulations that apply within the United States. For completeness, state-sponsored programs made available by a state's government as the state's Medicare program are analyzed and included in the guides.
Regulations concerning health care insurance are very complex, and many of today's state regulations are based on the Federal legislation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (also called HIPAA). In Georgetown University's health insurance summary guides, the HIPAA regulations on group health insurance, restrictions on pre-existing conditions, COBRA continuation coverage and health insurance portability are all summarized. Through diligent compliance with HIPAA regulations, a consumer may retain full-coverage health benefits for a long-term period after terminating from an eligible group plan. However, the timeline and qualification requirements are strongly enforced and, as coverage moves farther away in time from the original group health plan, the health coverage and premiums will normally become less beneficial.
Because understanding both HIPAA rights and state-sponsored Medicare plans will be mutually important to acquiring quality health insurance, the Georgetown University guides should be a required resource early in the effort to find new health insurance. These insurance guides are updated when required by the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University and offer a current, simple and comprehensive look at health care insurance in each of the fifty U.S. states. Click on the Georgetown University link to see the current and complete Consumer's Guide to Getting and Keeping Health Insurance for the state you call home.