A Helpful Summary of North Carolina Medical Insurance Terms
The Georgetown Health Policy Institute has published a series of health insurance guidebooks that briefly outline the health insurance rights and restrictions in each individual state throughout the U.S. In developing the summary guides, a review is conducted of each state's specific regulatory requirements relating to health insurance, as well as the Federal requirements that apply within the United States. For completeness, state-specific programs made available by a state's government as their local Medicare implementation are analyzed and included in the guides.
Regulations concerning health care insurance are fairly complex, and many of today's state regulations are derived from the Federal legislation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (also called HIPAA). In Georgetown University's health insurance summary guides, the HIPAA requirements for group health insurance, restrictions on pre-existing conditions, COBRA coverage and health insurance portability are all summarized. Through diligent compliance with HIPAA regulations, a consumer may remain covered for full-coverage health benefits for a long-term period after leaving an eligible group plan. However, the timeline and qualification requirements are strongly enforced and, as a person moves farther away in time from the original group health plan, the health coverage details and premium fees will normally become less beneficial.
Because understanding both HIPAA rights and local state-sponsored Medicare programs will be mutually important to acquiring quality health insurance, the Georgetown summary guides should be required reading early in the effort to find new health insurance. These insurance guides are updated when required by Georgetown University and offer a current, simple and comprehensive look at health insurance in each of the fifty U.S. states. Click on the Georgetown University link to read the current and complete Consumer's Guide to Getting and Keeping Health Insurance for the state you call home.