A Helpful Summary of Maryland Medical Insurance Terms
Georgetown University, through its Health Policy Institute has written and published a series of health care insurance summary guides that summarize the health insurance regulatory requirements in every state within the United States. In preparing the guides, an analysis is performed of a state's specific regulations that pertain to health insurance, as well as the applicable Federal regulations that apply across the USA. Additionally, state-sponsored plans provided by a state's government as their local Medicare program are reviewed in the guides.
Regulations concerning health insurance are generally very complex, and many current state regulations are based on the Federal regulations entitled the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (aka HIPAA). In the Georgetown health insurance guides, the HIPAA regulations applicable to group health insurance, coverage of pre-existing conditions, COBRA continuation coverage and insurance portability are all researched and documented. By following HIPAA detailed guidelines, a consumer may keep full-coverage health care insurance as long as they wish after exiting from an eligible group plan. However, the timelines are strongly enforced and, as a consumer moves farther away in time from the original qualifying health plan, the health coverage and premium rates will usually become less beneficial.
Since understanding HIPAA requirements and state-run Medicare programs will be key to finding quality health insurance, the Georgetown University summaries should be required guidance right off when searching for new health insurance. These guides are updated from time to time by the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University and offer a timely and comprehensive look at health care and insurance in every state. Click on the link to access the complete Consumer's Guide to Getting and Keeping Health Insurance for your home state.