NAIC Producer Licensing Amendment on Disclosure of Producer Compensation

At Issue

What HIPAA Does and Does Not Do These bulletins address various HIPAA-related issues in a series of program memoranda which are grouped into the following categories: Group Market; Individual Market; and Group & Individual Markets.

In August of 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act of 1996 (HIPAA) became law. Sometimes also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, HIPAA has had many far-reaching implications for health insurance consumers, employers and insurance carriers. The primary intent of the legislation was to help protect individual and family health benefits in the case of a job loss or change. However, this bill also contained provisions concerning long-term care, privacy and genetic discrimination, among other things. Three subsequent amendments to the original HIPAA, the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act , the Mental Health Parity Act and the Newborn's and Mother's Health Protection Act , have impacted the health insurance market even further. Attempts to comply with HIPAA and its amendments have resulted in many new state laws and regulations, as well as a great deal of federal-level regulatory activity, sparking much interest from the insurance industry, and employer and consumer organizations.

NAHU's View

NAHU was extremely pleased at the 1996 enactment of HIPAA, as many of the provisions of the law have been long-standing legislative goals of our organization and are outlined in NAHU's blueprint for health reform, Real Choice. HIPAA provisions that we particularly support include the small-group and individual market reforms that make health insurance accessible for most Americans, the long-term care insurance tax incentives, the medical savings account demonstration project and the requirement that the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services establish standards for electronic transactions and transmission of information. However, as with any piece of legislation of this magnitude, there are aspects that could be improved upon. As such, NAHU submitted congressional testimony proposing HIPAA clarifications.

NAHU's Actions

Since HIPAA and its amendments touch on so many issues of importance to NAHU, most of our actions concerning this legislation are listed under other issues sections (e.g., long-term care, privacy initiates).

Additional Resources

• State HIPAA Laws Database
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Page on the HIPAA Administrative Simplification Requirements
• Department of Labor - Health Benefits Advisor
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Georgetown University Institute for Health Care Research and Policy's HIPAA Guide for Consumers
• Summary of HIPAA Provisions
• Health Hippo's HIPAA Page

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