The legislation guarantees renewability of health coverage to employers and individuals. Except in the case of fraud or misrepresentation by an employer, the bill requires health insurers to renew coverage to all employers as long as premiums are paid. The legislation helps individuals leaving or losing their job to maintain health coverage. The bill encourages states to enact individual market reforms meeting the criteria of the bill. The bill does not set price limits on these individual policies or guarantee that the premiums are affordable.
Individuals begin accruing credit toward pre-existing condition exclusions immediately.
While the Kennedy-Kassebaum law is an important breakthrough, some critical omissions remain. In addition, while you do get access to coverage, nothing requires that the individual coverage be affordable. You may not initially receive every benefit that your new health plan offers because employers can limit you to the category or class you had before. If the employer does limit by category, this restriction is limited to a maximum of 12 months. At that time, the employee must receive all of the benefits provided to other employees.