Health Insurance Consumer Information

A recent NPR story covered the history of the last decade of health care reform and HIPAA. The law, which was passed in 1997, was intended to allow individuals to keep health care coverage even when their employment status changed. However, most observers say that it hasn’t turned out that way.

“There’s just really not a guarantee that you’re going to have comparable coverage at a comparable price” when you leave your previous employer and go to a new one or go to work for yourself, says Karen Pollitz, the director of Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute programs on health insurance.

Joanne Silberner’s story was presented on Morning Edition – you can listen at the NPR website.

US News and World Report published a story earlier this week quoting project director Karen Pollitz, which uncovered the unsavory hard truths about health insurers who deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, and deny policies based on pre-existing conditions.

As Pollitz notes, some in the business community say that pre-existing condition exclusions may be intended to encourage people to get insure before they are sick, rather that waiting until they are sick when their conditions will cost insurers more.

“It’s a penalty for waiting to get insurance,” says Pollitz. “But a lot of people didn’t wait. They had coverage, and they lost it.”

The article also contains advice to consumers about keeping group health insurance if at all possible.

Read it at the US News and World Report website: Health: An Ailment Could Delay or Rule Out Healthcare Coverage.