The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, HIPAA, is a law that has a huge impact if you are looking for an individual health insurance policy, especially if you or someone in your family has a pre-existing condition. Knowing the laws and your rights will help you be better informed and more confident when searching for your own personal health insurance. Let’s take a look at what used to happen in the insurance industry and what was resolved by the HIPAA act.
The Past
An individual switched jobs and was denied coverage under the new employers health insurance plan because there was a pre-existing condition recorded under the previous employers health insurance plan. The new insurance company did not want to take on this liability. There was no law stopping the insurance company from denying coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Health insurance companies simply did not insure people with pre-existing health conditions even though they had insurance with their previous employers.
Insurance companies were looking out for their bottom line. They are in business to make money, so they saw this denial of coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions as a way to protect their assets. This is where the portability comes in.
The Present
Today, insurance companies must honor the previous coverage for individuals, barring the individual did not have a lapse in health insurance coverage for longer than a set amount of time. This means that even a person with diabetes, diagnosed under their previous insurance plan, must still be covered under the new plan if all of the conditions defined in HIPAA are met.
The Future
In today’s world, there is also great concern about patient privacy. Words and numbers fly across cyberspace faster than we can imagine and private information can be compromised in an instant.
HIPAA is also on this curve, staying current with new technology. The HIPAA law requires companies to abide by certain safety criteria when it comes to handling personal information. HIPAA sets guidelines about what steps need to occur before information can be sent over the Internet.
Because of this safety net thrown out by the HIPAA law, there has been a reduction in health insurance fraud and abuse while also mandating standards throughout the industry for electronic billing and account updates.
The HIPAA laws are worth knowing and will provide you with the information you need when it comes to questioning health insurance companies about their HIPAA policies.
Before you begin looking for any individual health insurance coverage, read up on the HIPAA laws so you know the questions to ask to make sure your personal information will be protected.
Feb
28The benefits of getting a home insurance quote
Filed in: Miscellaneous Insurance News by admin on 02-28-10A home insurance price quote is used to provide valuable information to a prospective insured. A price quote provides coverage information, applicable discounts as well as the amount of premium for the policy. A home insurance price quote can be used to shop around to find the best price for a home insurance policy.
A home insurance quote will provide a list of coverages and the amount of premium each of them will cost. This includes the most common coverages which are contents, liability and replacement cost. Policy coverages are the maximum amount the insurance policy will pay when there is a loss which is not specifically excluded on the policy. Coverages are available in various limits depending on what the insured requires on their policy. Many companies offer some form of guaranteed replacement cost coverage on their policies which can vary in price depending on the age and the construction of the home.
A home insurance quote will also provide a list of all applicable discounts that can be applied to the policy. These are generally listed or grouped together somewhere on the quote. These discounts can vary depending on various factors. Some of the discounts found on a homeowners’ quote are for protective devices that are installed. Protective devices usually include a fire extinguisher, a deadbolt lock and a smoke alarm. The most common type of discount that appears on many quotes is called a multi-policy discount. This is a discount that is given when more than one policy is purchased from the same company.
The most important item that appears on a homeowners’ insurance quote is the total amount of the premium for the policy. The premium is how much the policy will cost for the length of the term which is either semi-annual or annual. Many insurers offer a billing summary to go along with their insurance quotes. The billing summary is a breakdown of all of the billing methods that are available for the policy. Insurance companies offer many billing methods which include monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual. A billing summary gives the premium payment amounts for each billing method. This makes comparing premium amounts from different insurance companies much easier.
A home insurance quote can be used to compare insurance rates from many different companies. The easiest way to do this is to go to a local insurance agent. They write with many different companies and can generally find the company with the lowest prices.
Apr
24Make Sure that Your Car Insurance Company Gets Honored
Filed in: Miscellaneous Insurance News by admin on 04-24-09However, since car insurance policies can be very complicated, you may not even be covered by your policy if something happens to your car. If your car’s wheels get destroyed and the wheels are not covered by your cheap auto insurance policy, then the car insurance company will have nothing to do with your repair or replacement expenses. This can be a waste, especially since you pay a hefty monthly fee to the insurance company to keep your insurance policy going.
To minimize the chances of you getting a bad deal for your money the next time you run into an automobil accident, be sure that you get the best car insurance rates and ins policy that you can possibly get. The best insurance may not mean the most expensive or most loaded policies, because not everybody can afford to pay such hefty fees. What you do need on the other hand is the best automobile insurance company and quote that your own money can buy and pay for every month.
More than getting the most affordable deal, you should also sign up with an auto insurance company or agent that is ready to help you whenever you find yourself in a tight spot. In this case, cheap doesn’t always mean good because just because insurance is offered to you at an extremely low price means that the company is sure to help and pay what is due their client when the time comes.
When people get into accidents, their insurance agents (if they’re that sort) make it very hard on them and try to wiggle out of paying by arguing that they are not covered by the car insurance policy or that the insurance company should only pay part of the expenses. Ask around with family, friends and people you trust on who they believe the best and most trustworthy companies are before signing.
