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, unless you exercise your federal COBRA or state continuation rights. You are not entitled to take your actual 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.
• If you change jobs, your new employer may not offer you 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• If you work for certain non-federal public employers in South Carolina, not all of the group health plan protections may apply to you.
• In South Carolina, your access to individual health insurance may depend on your health status. Private insurers are not prohibited from turning you down, charging more, or limiting coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
• Even if you are HIPAA eligible, you can be turned down for individual health insurance policies. SCHIP coverage is your only guaranteed access to individual health insurance, though you may be able to buy individual health insurance from other insurance companies.
• If you apply for SCHIP coverage and are not HIPAA eligible, you may face a pre-existing condition exclusion period.
• Once you obtain coverage, your ability to switch plans may be limited as well. While you have protections when you move from an individual policy to a group plan, South Carolina law does not protect you from the imposition of pre-existing condition exclusions when you move from one individual policy to another, even if you had prior continuous coverage. However, you are assured the right to buy another individual policy from the same insurer, provided that the new plan is a policy of equal or lesser benefits.
• The law does not limit what you can be charged for individual health policies. You can be charged substantially higher premiums because of your health status, age, gender, and other characteristics.

If you are a small employer buying a group health plan policy, you can be charged more, within limits, due to the health status of those in your