Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, helps people who are between jobs maintain access to good healthcare. The act also helps keep health information private and confidential while handling personal information with confidence. HIPAA was introduced in the late 1990s and during the early 2000s it was fully implemented. The act ensures a person does not have to pay high fees to maintain their care if they needed to change insurance carriers upon leaving employment.

Before the act was implemented, a person who left their job may go through difficult measures in getting health insurance that included paying exorbitant fees. If you left your place of employment and no longer had health coverage, another insurance company would assume you had a pre-existing condition upon applying for insurance. This aspect allowed insurance companies to charge more for premiums but this option made it difficult for many to get insurance because they simply could not afford to pay such high fees. If you had a pre-existing condition, such as diabetes, the new insurance company may decide not to pay for needed medications, but the patient was still required to pay their premium each month anyway.

HIPAA was designed to help people take their insurance coverage with them, especially if they had a pre-existing condition. Some people were forced to stop care for their condition before HIPAA was made law. It makes insurance portable so you can maintain it if you choose so upon leaving your place of employment. This option is affordable and people have more options as to how they want to maintain their coverage if they don’t want to change it. HIPAA also reviews how personal information is shared between health insurance companies. This includes medications taken, health concerns, treatments completed, and other significant information.

Most information shared today is through digital form to help maintain privacy of patients. There are laws in place that allow for a healthcare professional to suffer consequences if they accessed or leaked patient information without permission. Medical personal along with government organizations help determine processes in how patient information is created and shared. People learn more about HIPAA and their rights when they go to the doctor or have a prescription filled. Patients are required to be informed of their rights regarding how their personal information is shared with others within the medical industry.