New Rule Aims to Help Workers Changing or
Losing Jobs Get Access to Health Insurance

January 1, 2005

WASHINGTON --  For U.S. workers who change or lose their
jobs, a new rule issued by the Bush administration just
before the end of 2004 could provide better access to group
health plan coverage _ in keeping with changes Congress
agreed to eight years ago.

The new rule, which becomes effective for health care
plans starting July 1, is meant to implement more of the
1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act by
making it easier to obtain group health coverage.

It limits when pre-existing medical conditions can be
excluded from coverage and requires group health plans and
group health insurance issuers to offer "special
enrollment" in certain cases.

The law, pushed through Congress by President Clinton, was
intended to guarantee access to health insurance for small
businesses with 50 or fewer employees, and to require that
insurers renew coverage for a person or group regardless of
the health status of any member of the group.

"In an era when American workers often change jobs, and
even careers, several times in the course of their lives,
it is important that they are able to respond to the modern
workplace without having to fear for their health
insurance," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson said this week.

Three federal agencies jointly issued the new rule based
on the 1996 law. Bush administration officials said their
rule "does not significantly modify the framework" the
Clinton administration issued in April 1997 for
implementing this part of the law.

Yet it took another 7-1/2 years for the rule to be made
final.

"We have listened to public comment and worked to craft a
rule that will provide maximum protection for consumers,
while minimizing the burden on health plans," said Medicare
chief Mark McClellan.

When Clinton signed the law, his administration said it
would affect about one in 10 U.S. workers _ then an
estimated 25 million Americans _ and their families. Those
were workers switching jobs, self-employed or with pre-
existing medical conditions. The law was sponsored by Sen.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and former Kansas Republican Sen.
Nancy Kassebaum Baker.

The Bush administration changed the health insurance rule
"to bolster ... consumer protections while minimizing the
burdens imposed on group health plans and group health
insurance issuers," Thompson's agency said in a statement.

Among other things, those changes would require group
health plans and group health insurance issuers to give
workers a statement about their rights under the law.
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