In 1996, Congress passed a bill called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA for short, that was passed to protect consumers in four ways.  First, under HIPAA, employers are limited in their ability to exclude health insurance coverage due to a pre-existing condition.  Secondly, it provides added opportunities to sign up in a group medical insurance plan if you lose other health insurance coverage or experience particular life events.  Thirdly, under  HIPAA, protects employees, their spouses, and their dependents from discrimination from a health insurance policy due to pre-existing conditions, genetics, and previous claims.  Finally, HIPAA guarantees that certain individuals can renew and have access to medical insurance plans.    Essentially, HIPAA ensures that people with pre-existing health conditions can get health insurance.  So how does HIPAA work with COBRA insurance?  Basically there are five key things that you should know about HIPAA and COBRA insurance or in simpler terms, COBRA insurance and pre-existing conditions.

• By electing and signing up for COBRA insurance coverage, you can avoid a significant break between medical insurance coverage which would make it more difficult to find a new insurer if you have a pre-existing condition.  For instance, if you know that you will have a 6 month lapse in medical insurance coverage, purchasing COBRA will cover you during that time.
• COBRA medical insurance coverage will be counted under HIPAA as creditable coverage which will help you qualify in the future.  Creditable coverage allows you to offset pre-existing health conditions exclusion periods for you and your family.
• Electing continued health insurance coverage under COBRA will allow you to bridge your coverage so that you remain covered during a waiting period or a preexisting condition exclusion period.
• Your COBRA insurance coverage can be cut off if you have COBRA medical insurance and become covered under a new health insurance plan that is not subject to a pre-existing condition exclusion period.
• When your COBRA medical insurance coverage ends, you will receive a special enrollment opportunity for you and your family for any new coverage for which you are eligible.  This is not true if you just stop paying the COBRA premiums.