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individual health insurance coverage
Many people worry about coverage for preexisting conditions, especially when they change jobs. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) helps assure continued health insurance coverage for employees and their dependents. Starting July 1, 1997, insurers could impose only one 12-month waiting period for any preexisting condition treated or diagnosed in the previous six months. Your prior health insurance coverage will be credited toward the preexisting condition exclusion period as long as you have maintained continuous coverage without a break of more than 62 days. Pregnancy is not considered a preexisting condition, and newborns and adopted children who are covered within 30 days are not subject to the 12-monthwaiting period.
Twenty four hour access. Normally members have 24 hour access to the HMO. Open Enrollment. This term can apply in one of two different ways. An employee sponsored group has a set time period each year when employees may choose to enroll or remain enrolled or change plans. The second meaning is a period each year when an HMO must advertise to the general public on an individual basis.
These are combined because the HMO is made up of medical practitioners who provide specific services to HMO members at prices that are pre-set and the HMO member agrees to pay the HMO a specified amount in advance to cover necessary services. Therefore, the HMO is furnishing health services as well as making the financial arrangements.
Disability insurance provides you with an income if illness or injury prevents you from being able to work for an extended period of time. It is an important but often overlooked form of insurance.
Surgical Expense Benefits fall under two plans, scheduled and non-scheduled. In the scheduled plan, surgical expense policies pay the fees incurred from the surgeons services and related costs incurred when the insured has an operation. Typical related costs include fees for an assistant surgeon, anesthesiologist and can even include the operating room when it is not covered as a miscellaneous item.
We mentioned early on that when it comes to health care, there is no “one size fits all.”
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