Essay about ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA

Words: 929
Pages: 4
Open Document
Three landmark pieces of legislation have been enacted within the last forty years; ERISA, COBRA and HIPAA. Each one of these laws was created to foster development and improvement in the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States. The mainstays of these three pieces of legislation are to improve working conditions; to add advanced opportunities for profitable employment, protect employees, and to assure work related benefits and rights. What is ERISA? ERISA stands for Employee Retirement Income Security Act. ERISA regulates the establishment and implementation of discretionary benefits practices. Since its enactment in 1974, ERISA has been amended to meet the changing retirement and health care needs …show more content…
Beneficiaries are responsible for paying the insurance premium. Companies are permitted to charge COBRA beneficiaries a premium for continuation coverage of up to 102 percent of the cost of the coverage to the plan. HIPAA was enacted by Congress to address healthcare issues that individuals faced including changing coverage, portability of care, privacy and security rights, and to prevent fraud. The main purpose of the act was to provide patient privacy rights and prevent disclosure of patient information by requiring that individuals and businesses protect these individual rights. Those required to protect individual health information are all healthcare providers, health plan, and healthcare clearinghouses. The information that is considered to be patient health information (PHI) is any information including past, present, or future health conditions (mental and physical), demographic data, and any information that can be used to identify individuals associated with their health care plan. The key provisions of HIPPA are as follows: access to medical records, notice of privacy practices, limits on use of personal medical information, prohibition on marketing, stronger state laws, confidential communications, and complaints. Although the concept that a patient’s medical information should remain private has been accepted for many years, the new regulations have introduced a previously unseen level of
Show More

Related Documents: Essay about ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA

Essay about Compliance Policies

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) offers a federal order for the regulation of employee pension and welfare benefit plans which are offered by employers. ERISA contains various requirements that are supposed to guard the rights of employees and their beneficiaries who are participate in this plan. These protections include requirements relating to reporting and disclosure, participation, vesting, and benefit accrual, as well as plan funding. ERISA also controls the responsibilities of…

Words 1617 - Pages 7

Essay on March 8 Work Due

MAN4504 D1 Slotting fee is a fee which a supermarket or chain store charges manufacturers for carrying their products. You may be surprised to learn about slotting fees, as it seems a bit odd to pay for the privilege of having your product appear on supermarket stores, but they are in fact a large source of revenue for many supermarkets and chains, despite attempts at regulation in many parts of the world. Some argue that slotting allowances are efficiency-enhancing; others argue that they are…

Words 1660 - Pages 7

Health Care Essay

Health How are companies providing healthcare benefits for their employees compared to a decade ago? Individual Final Research Project: Are companies still providing healthcare benefits for their employees compared to a decade ago? GB520-14M Strategic Human Resource Management Kaplan University October 12, 2012 Healthcare Benefits: A Decade of Evolution…

Words 2812 - Pages 12

Business Law Final Essay

CHAPTER 5: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Intellectual Property: any property resulting from intellectual, creative processes – products of an individuals; mind Trademark: distinctive marl, motto, device, or emblem that a manufacturer affixes to the goods it produces so that they may be identified on the market and their origins made known (10 YEAR PERIOD – RENEWABLE) CASE 5.1 – Coca-Cola v. Koke Co. of America Koke can’t use the name because Coke was so common and well known, but Dope wasn’t an infringement…

Words 5985 - Pages 24