HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a code of regulations developed to fight fraud, abuse, and waste in health insurance and health care delivery services.

Aside from this main goal, the Act works to improve the quality of the health care system. It also aims to enhance the continuity and portability of health insurance coverage, which would benefit both individual and group markets. Furthermore, HIPAA includes a set of consequences and penalties for those who will not follow the regulations included in the act.

To fulfill its goals, HIPAA incorporates a set of systems related to health care. It encourages the use of medical savings accounts to persons and groups that have health insurance. HIPAA provides policies that protect the health insurance coverage of an individual in case he changes or loses his job.

This act mandates that health insurance administrations should be simplified. The simplified administration of health insurance lessens the occurrence of loopholes and fraud. HIPAA also controls exclusions to pre-existing conditions and it allows special enrolment during unexpected events. This Act also supports the use of electronic transactions and the use of electronic data formats.

HIPAA ensures that qualified insurance holders can have guaranteed renewal of insurance coverage. It also prevents insurance plans from charging higher premiums and deductibles based on the holder’s health status.

The U.S. congress enacted HIPAA in 1996, and it became effective in 1997. For groups and individuals to fully understand HIPAA, they can purchase and read books and other publications about this Act.

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