As important as they are, the federal and state health insurance reforms are limited. Therefore, you also should understand how the laws do not protect you.

· If you change jobs, you usually cannot take your old health benefits with you. Except when you exercise your federal COBRA or state continuation rights, you are not entitled to take your group health coverage with you when you leave a job. Your new health plan may not cover all of the benefits or the same doctors that your old plan did. (see Group Health Plans)

· If you change jobs, your new employer may not offer you health benefits. Employers are required only to make sure that their decision is based on factors unrelated to your health status. (see Group Health Plans)

· If you get a new job with health benefits, your coverage may not start right away. Employers can require waiting periods before your health benefits begin. HMOs can require affiliation periods. (see Group Health Plans)

· If you have a break in coverage of 63 days or more, you may have to satisfy a new pre-existing condition exclusion period when you join a new group health plan. (see Group Health Plans)

· Even if your coverage is continuous, there may be a pre-existing condition exclusion period for some benefits if you join a group health plan that covers benefits your old plan did not. For example, say you move from a group plan that does not cover prescription drugs to one that does. You may have to wait up to six months or one year before your new health plan will pay for drugs prescribed to treat a pre-existing condition. (see Group Health Plans)

· If you work for certain non-federal public employers in Connecticut, not all of the group health plan protections may apply to you. (see Group Health Plans)

· In Connecticut, your access to individual health insurance may be dependent on your health status. Individual insurers in Connecticut are not prohibited from turning you down or limiting your coverage because of your pre-existing conditions. (see Individual Health Plans)

· If you have an expensive health condition, your individual health insurance premiums may be very high. The law doesn’t prohibit Connecticut health insurers from charging you more because of your health status, age, gender, family size, where you live, and the type of policy that you buy. (see Individual Health Plans)

· If you are HIPAA eligible, or if you are a Connecticut resident over age 19 and under the age of 65, the Connecticut Health Reinsurance Association (HRA) is your only guaranteed access to an individual health insurance policy. (see Individual Health Plans)

· If you purchase HRA coverage and are not HIPAA eligible, you will face a pre-existing condition exclusion period. (see Individual Health Plans)