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 employer may not offer you health benefits. If your employer offers health benefits, then the decision on weather 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 impose waiting periods before your health benefits begin. HMOs can impose 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 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 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 North Carolina, not all of the group health plan protections may apply to you. (see Group Health Plans)

· If you are not HIPAA eligible, insurers providing individual health insurance in North Carolina are free to turn you down for that coverage because of your health status and other factors. (see Individual Health Plans)

· Even if you are HIPAA eligible, you can be turned down for individual health insurance policies. The law permits insurance companies to limit your choices to two plans, which are supposed to be comparable to others they sell in the individual market in North Carolina. In addition, you are guaranteed the right to purchase coverage from NCHIRP. (see Individual Health Plans)

· The law does not limit what you can be charged for individual health insurance. You can be charged substantially higher premiums because of your health status, age, gender, and other characteristics. (see Individual Health Plans)

· Except when you are HIPAA eligible, individual health policies can permanently exclude coverage for your pre-existing condition. (see Individual Health Plans)

· If you buy health insurance through NCHIRP and are not HIPAA eligible, you will face a pre-existing condition exclusion period. (see Individual Health Plans)