I hear that HIPAA makes health insurance portable. How does that work?
Portability in HIPAA means that once an individual has health coverage, this coverage may be used to reduce or eliminate any preexisting condition exclusion that might be applied to an individual who moves to another employer’s group health plan. The concept of portability is really one of an individual receiving credit for maintaining health coverage, even though it may be under different health plans or policies. “Portability” does not mean that individuals can carry current health benefits or their current plan or policy with them when moving from one health plan or policy to another (such as when changing or losing jobs).
