HIPAA - HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) gives rights and protections to people whose health insurance is/was provided by a group plan. HIPAA limits exclusions from insurance because of pre-existing conditions, prohibits discrimination based on health conditions, and gives people the right to buy individual policies if a group plan is not available to them and they have used up their COBRA or other type of health insurance continuation coverage.

For more information about HIPAA, go to the U.S. Dept. of Labor's fact sheet on HIPAA: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fshipaa.html or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' HIPAA Online: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HIPAAGenInfo/. Also see the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute's "Connecticut Consumer Guide to Getting and Keeping Health Insurance" at: http://healthinsuranceinfo.net/getinsured/connecticut/.

If you have a complaint regarding exclusion from insurance or discrimination prohibited under HIPAA, submit complaints in writing to:

State of Connecticut Insurance Department
Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 816
Hartford, CT 06142-0816

See agency website www.ct.gov/cid/lib/cid/cons.pdf for downloadable forms.

HIPAA PRIVACY RULE

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Privacy Rule, took effect April 14, 2003. The Privacy Rule covers health plans, health care clearinghouses, and those health care providers who conduct certain financial and administrative transactions electronically.

The Privacy Rule creates national standards to protect individuals’ personal health information, guarantees to patients full access to their medical records, gives them more control over how their personal information is used and disclosed, and provides a clear avenue of recourse if their medical privacy is compromised.

For more information, go to the website of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.html.

Complaints: If you believe that a covered entity violated your (or someone else’s) health information privacy rights or committed another violation of the Privacy Rule, you may file a complaint with OCR. OCR can investigate complaints against covered entities. To find out how to file a complaint, go to http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/index.html.

TO FIND PROVIDERS IN CONNECTICUT'S COMMUNITY RESOURCES DATABASE:
Search by program name:
HIPAA Privacy Rule
HIPAA Questions and Complaints

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SOURCES: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights; U.S. Dept. of Labor.
PREPARED BY: 211/rj
CONTENT LAST REVIEWED: March2012