Chat - Health Insurance Portability Act >Sonu

[Guest guest]

Sonu Mitts:

The federal act is called " Health Insurance Portability and

Accountability Act of 1996 " and you can read more detail about it on

these sites:

http://www.hcfa.gov/hipaa/hipaahm.htm

http://www.insure.com/health/hipaa.html

I became aware of this due to a co-worker of mine having 2 autistic

children and mentioning that before this law, he would lose insurance

coverage for his children if he left our company to work at another

company. Once this law was enacted, he indicated that he would be

able to work for another company without risk of losing coverage for

his boys' pre-exisiting condition.

I've not read a lot about it -- so please do your own detailed

investigation about what it allows and disallows. Since it's a

federal law, I'm not sure how much power individual states have to

craft their own rules or laws about this issue.

Gwynne Bambach - Michigan

> > ,

> >

> > Your new employer in Colorado should offer you one or more

medical

> > plans to enroll in which you stay in usually from Jan thru Dec.

> > Then, in October of 2002, you might be allowed to make changes

> > (switch plans, change coverage, etc) that will take effect in

2003

> > calendar year.

> >

> > Plans vary for what types of medical treatment is covered and how

> > much of expense is covered (full, partial, or none). You will

> > usually bear some part of the expenses (i.e., monthly deduction

> from

> > paycheck, a co-pay for office visits and/or perscriptions).

> >

> > Your treatment for thyca follow up will be covered within

whichever

> > plan you select since we now have a law that forbids insurance

> > companies from denying a person coverage for pre-exisiting

> > conditions.

> >

> > My suggestions to you would be to review all the medical plans

> > offered to see how the differ and hopefully you can pick the one

> that

> > best suits your needs. Having thyca, I would look for one that

> > covers 80% or more of in-patient and out-patient hospital costs,

> low

> > office visit co-pay (mine is $10.00 per visit) and low

perscription

> > co-pay (mine is $5.00 for each perscription).

> >

> > Some plans require you to go to specific doctors that are " in the

> > plan " others let you choose your own doctor. You may want to ask

> > your co-workers for their opinions.

> >

> > I belong to an HMO (health maintenance organization) and must go

to

> > specific hosptials, clinics, and doctors. I enrolled in my HMO

> more

> > than 14 years ago and I've been extremely pleased with every

aspect

> > of it. For the first 13 years I only needed to be doctored for

> > colds, flu, and annual exams; then this year I dealt with the

> entire

> > thyca issue of surgery, RAI, follow-up, etc. I didn't pay for

> > anything other than office visits and perscription co-pays and I

> > NEVER have to deal with any billing issues or reimbursement

> issues.

> > I feel that the time and aggrevation saved in not having to fight

> > with an insurance company is worth A LOT more than I'm paying

each

> > monht for family medical coverage ($74.00)

> >

> > Good Luck! I hope this helps you.

> >

> > Gwynne Bambach - Michigan

> > Pap w fol var, tumor 1.7cm, lymph node mets

> > DX 12/21/00 (age 36)

> > TT 1/5/01

> > RAI 4/11/01 101.5 mCi

> > (delayed 3 months due to iodine from previous CT scan)

> > 2nd RAI – upcoming 4/2002