Reform of the Individual Health Insurance Market.(Brief Article)

Gary Claxton and Larry Lexitt (1996). New York: The Commonwealth Fund.

The Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) assures that people changing jobs of losing their group coverage cannot be excluded from joining a new Plan because of pre-existing health conditions. However, the new law does little to assure that sicker Individuals can afford new policies because it does not set limits on the premiums that insurance companies can charge them.

The authors of this report write that people seeking new coverage on their own, outside of group plans, can generally find it, but paying for it is another matter. The …