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 actual group health plan 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)

· Employers are not required to provide health benefits for their employees, so if you change jobs, your new employers may not offer your health benefits. If your employer offers health benefits then the decision on whether to offer you health insurance cannot be based on factors related 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 health plan. (see Group Health Plans for Group Coverage, and Individual Health Plans for Individual Coverage)

· Even if your coverage is continuous coverage, 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 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 a non-federal public employer in New York, not all of the group health plan protections may apply to you. (see Group Health Plans)

· If you move away from New York, you may not be able to buy individual health insurance in another state unless you are HIPAA eligible. (see Individual Health Plans)