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