Obtaining and maintaining insurance is challenging for all young adults, but if you have any previous medical conditions it can be even more challenging.
• HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
o Provides protections for beneficiaries covered by group health plans
• COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act)
o Provides that certain employees with 20 or more full-time employees or equivalent in the previous 12 months are required to offer continuation of coverage under COBRA to qualified beneficiaries. A qualified beneficiary is any individual covered by the plan the day before the qualifying event. Each beneficiary can elect COBRA independently.
o A student, covered by a parent's plan, is eligible to elect coverage under COBRA should they lose dependent status as defined by the plan language.
o Under COBRA, the qualifying beneficiary and the qualifying event determines the length of time COBRA coverage is available.
o Loss of dependent status under plan provisions provides that COBRA benefits are obtainable for a period of 36 months.
American Association of Health Plans
www.aahp.org
American Association of Health Plans provides links to many of the nation's primary health care plans as well as current information relating to health care policy including High Risk Pools.
Free Advice
www.freeadvice.com
Free Advice offers information and free legal advice, from a large question and answer database, on many issues including health insurance.
Health Care Choices
www.healthcarechoices.org
Health Care Choices is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to educating the public about the nation's health care system. The site contains comprehensive descriptions of insurance plans, where to get insurance, what to do if claims are not paid on time and getting a second opinion for cancer.
Health Hippo
hippo.findlaw.com
Health Hippo is a collection of policy and regulatory material related to health care. It is comprehensive, up to date and relevant to many issues involving childhood cancer.
Patient Advocate Foundation
www.patientadvocate.org
Patient Advocate Foundation offers assistance to patients with specific issues they are facing with their insurer, employer and/or creditor regarding insurance, job retention and/or debt crisis matters relative to their diagnosis of life threatening or debilitating diseases. PAF provides professional case managers and attorneys specialized in mediation, negotiation, and education, and advocate on behalf of patients.
National Conference of State Legislatures
www.ncsl.org
National Conference of State Legislatures provides information about state legislatures, including: healthcare; health finance, cost & insurance; public health; federal health issues; and state health.
Kaiser Family Foundation
www.kff.org
The Kaiser Family Foundation serves as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public. The information provided is always free of charge– from the most sophisticated policy research, to basic facts and numbers, to information young people can use to improve their health or elderly people can use to understand their Medicare benefits.
KaiserEDU.org
www.kaiseredu.org
KaiserEDU.org is designed to provide students, faculty and others interested in learning about health policy easy access to the latest data, research, analysis, and developments in health policy. This site includes narrated slide tutorials, background reference libraries, and issue modules on current topics and policy debates.
OLR Research Report
www.cga.ct.gov
OLR Research Report provides information about health insurance for older children, and loss of dependent status.
Internal Revenue Service
www.irs.gov
New York State Assembly
assembly.state.ny.us
New York State Assembly bill summary: Provides health insurance coverage for dependent children enrolled full-time in an accredited professional or graduate school.
Covered the Uninsured
CovertheUninsured.org
This site provides resources for the uninsured.
2Insure4Less
www.2insure4less.com
This site provides information about a child’s loss of dependent status, and health insurance options after loss of dependent status.
Healthinsuranceinfo.net
healthinsuranceinfo.net
The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute has written A CONSUMER GUIDE FOR GETTING AND KEEPING HEALTH INSURANCE for each state and the District of Columbia. The guides provide a clear summary of your protections.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners
www.naic.org
Provides information and contacts on state health insurance programs.
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
www.canceradvocacy.org
Provides an informational book for adult survivors on health insurance. The book is also available in Spanish.