A Helpful Summary of Georgia Medical Insurance Terms
The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute has written a series of health insurance summary guides that outline the health insurance requirements in each state throughout the United States. In preparing the summary guides, an analysis is completed of a state's regulations pertaining to health insurance, as well as the Federal regulations that apply throughout the USA. In addition, state-sponsored programs offered by a state's government as the state's Medicare program are reviewed and summarized in the guides.
Regulations associated with health insurance are very complex, and most current state regulations are based on the Federal legislation known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In the Georgetown health insurance state guides, the HIPAA regulations on group health insurance, treatment of pre-existing conditions, COBRA continuation coverage and health insurance portability are all addressed. By following the HIPAA guidelines carefully, a consumer may retain full-coverage health insurance indefinitely after terminating from an eligible group plan. However, the timeline requirements are strictly enforced and, as coverage moves farther away in time from the original health plan, the health coverage and premiums will generally become less beneficial.
Since understanding both HIPAA regulations and state-sponsored Medicare plans will be vitally important to finding quality long-term health insurance, the Georgetown University guides should be a required resource early in the task of finding new health insurance. These guides are updated periodically by the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University and offer a current and comprehensive look at health care insurance in each state. Click below to see the full Consumer's Guide to Getting and Keeping Health Insurance for your state.