Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Public Law 104-91, enacted in 1996, is designed to protect health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. HIPAA has separate provisions for the large and small group markets, and the individual market. HIPAA amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to provide improved portability and continuity of health insurance coverage, extending earlier provisions under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 ("COBRA").