How did an act intended to protect your health information allow you to keep your insurance?

Title I: Health Care Access, Portability, and Renewability

Title I of HIPAA regulates the availability and breadth of group health plans and certain individual health insurance policies. It amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code.

Title I also limits restrictions that a group health plan can place on benefits for preexisting conditions. Group health plans may refuse to provide benefits relating to preexisting conditions for a period of 12 months after enrollment in the plan or 18 months in the case of late enrollment. However, individuals may reduce this exclusion period if they had group health plan coverage or health insurance prior to enrolling in the plan. Title I allows individuals to reduce the exclusion period by the amount of time that they had “creditable coverage” prior to enrolling in the plan and after any “significant breaks” in coverage. “Creditable coverage” is defined quite broadly and includes nearly all group and individual health plans, Medicare, and Medicaid. A “significant break” in coverage is defined as any 63 day period without any creditable coverage.

poor pam..she's grieving..
1 Denial
2 Anger
3 Bargaining
4 Depression
5 Acceptance

i can understand the loss she must feel for her husbands sickness. BUT anyone is going to have a hard time telling me that our healthcare system is not AWESOME right now today.

BUT talk about oil giants....drug companies are just as bad. supply and demand.
My advice, find a secure job, get decent benefits, and well......we cannot save everyone. Im sorry, but some things are beyond miracles.

Nothing personal 'catwoman', ... but 'WOW' !!!

Nothing personal 'catwoman', ... but 'WOW' !!!

and LOL, our healthcare system is AWESOME. surgery with robots, small tiny incisions, organ transplants, bone marrow transplants, 3D MRI scan, cardiac monitoring.....
its truly amazing......

Drew,

Most of the time your posts are pretty well thought out, but I'm afraid you're talking through your hat on this one.

I've been there. Have you?

Do you know anything about the HIPAA Act of 1996? It could possibly be the reason I'm still alive. It allowed me to keep the insurance I needed to get the advanced medical care I needed for a congenital condition that often kills people.

To be fair, HIPAA of '96 was passed because some Republicans crossed the aisle on this one because they thought it was a better compromise than what Hillary Clinton's commission came up with, but I don't believe it would have been a done deal without the Clintons and some stalwart Democrats not giving in on key provisions.

As far as what the Bush Administration did to undermine the prospects for very unlucky people, consider what the Bush Republicans did to bankruptcy law. I any needs the 'compassionate conservatism', it's someone who, through no fault of their own, finds themselves in the godawful state.

Hopefully, you'll never have to find out the hard way what a mess certain segments of the health care industry are in or how your insurance company will screw you over every way and chance they get.

Oh, and before you try to say I got something for nothing? I've always made health insurance one of my priorities and have done without other things to have been continuously insured since I got out of high school.

-Kerry O.

Hi Kerry:

As I work in a hospital I am very much aware of HIPPA but I'm not entirely sure that is what Pam was talking about when she was on stage a few night ago. First, let me back up for a moment and tell you on a personal level that I am glad, to whatever extent you needed it, you were able to seek and receive medical services when you needed the most. I too have had an occasion to need medical care, and though none of it (at this time) was as severe as Pam's and I presume your own, I am extraordinarily grateful that there was insurance available, that I had a job that provided good insurance and that I was taken care of.

That stated, the implication that Pam left the crowd (and here I'll back that up only in that there was applause for her position as it related to voting for Senator Obama due--at least in part--to her health care difficulties) was that according to Pam, everything changed eight years ago--we just don't know what as it relates to Pam.

The issue I have with her speech is that she gave no detail, no background, there was simply no context. It came across as, "Before President Bush, our health was fine--after President Bush took office, our benefits were not there.)

It's not that it is bad material, it's just that it does not take us anywhere. There was a link she was trying to produce but I was left wondering where I might find the correlation.

Part of this is that I have grown weary of President Bush becoming the target for every ill that has befallen the world over the past eight years. I recognize that there are a number of people who hold him responsible for a number of things and those people are well within their rights to do so. But it is difficult to listen to a woman who was working (she did not mention otherwise) in the private sector the year President Bush was elected state that she's voting for Obama---and leave out the link between her medical event and a man being sworn in a great distance away.

Had she pointed to a Govt. issue, something that GWB enacted that caused the issue to become more difficult then at least I'd have the chance to evaluate her position.

Regarding bankruptcy, I know that the laws have changed but I also know that horribly high medical bills is still a valid and legitimate reason to file--and people still do so--In my position, I see and even read about it.

The bottom line here is that Pam failed to give a single reason why she felt that GWB coming into office played even a small role in her health concerns. But that did not stop the crowd from cheering in response. I just don't know if they knew what they were applauding for.) She did not mention why her insurance did not pay or why, if they did, it still left them in dire financial trouble. We just don't know what happened and the "what" is important.

If her issues were somehow caused by our current President then I'd sure like to know in what way if for no other reason than it would most likely shed some light on why a lifetime Republican like Pam is suddenly and without much in the way of a stated reason, voting for Mr. Obama.

-Drew

...and working in the field, I probably have a better insight into this than most people. But, having been a patient, I can relate a LOT of things about 'the system' that you don't find about until you've been through it.

It's not the technology, it's the system in place to deliver, bill and pay for it that's slapdash.


-Kerry O.

do you know obama wasnt even born in the united states?

Ya, I work at the bedside. although I dont concern myself with how much money my patient does or does not have. I do understand that insurance and medical bills are OVERPRICED. technology comes at a price. I cared for ayoung man a month ago...he was 24, with AMS....had a very young 6 month old baby who was all he could talk about. i spent 12 hours with him we only talked about his son and his symptoms. and pray that the one million dollar bone marrow transplant was successful.

for me, its more than slapdash...and its more than a bill. and i dont need to see some chic whining about her bills on tv. not when I know she probably has diability insurance anyway.
medical treatments and supplies are overpriced. But to me, LIFE and saving and improving life is worth that cost. shes talking and shes walking...that alone is enough for me...

I think that if you were to check this out, you'd find her husband _had_ disability insurance that was cancelled by the issuing company citing some lame paperwork excuse. It's really funny how paperwork goes missing or was done incorrectly when there's lots of money at stake.

Funny too, that until recently in a lot of states, hospitals and health care providers could bill for medical mistakes, and when the insurance companies refused to pay for them, the patient was left holding the bag. Sometimes, even having been turned over to collection agencies until they 'whined' enough and sought the counsel of ambulance chasers.

But you don't want to hear that. You're a True Believer who has not had your faith tested by having had to actually go through this yourself.

Get back to me when that happens and we'll compare notes.

-Kerry O.