If you have been laid off or fired from your job, or are just between jobs at this time, avoiding a lapse in your health insurance is very important. While it is not always possible to avoid losing your health insurance coverage, in most cases it is possible to find a viable option that will allow you to keep some type of your health insurance and avoid the lapse in coverage that could cost you a great deal of money if disaster strikes and you are left uninsured. Here are the reasons it is vital that you avoid losing your coverage, and make sure that you keep some type of health insurance network at your disposal.

If you are left without health coverage, you will leave yourself open to problems with pre-existing condition clauses. When you lapse in coverage for a period of two months, exactly 63 days or more, a new insurance company can deny you coverage for any condition that was being covered by your old insurance company by excluding it under a pre-existing conditions clause. However, if you make sure to keep some type of coverage, or avoid a lapse of over 63 days, you will be covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). According to the rules of this law, your new insurance company cannot deny you coverage for conditions that were covered under your old plan as long as you get coverage within the designated 63 day period. If your former insurance company covered you for a minimum of 18 months, your new insurance company may not, by law, apply a waiting period to pre-existing conditions – as long as you have not had a coverage lapse in excess of 63 days.

One of the main reasons that people consider obtaining COBRA insurance is to make certain that they stay HIPAA eligible. COBRA is not always the most inexpensive choice, however. It is worth calling around and getting a health insurance quote from at least one or two other providers. Your insurance during the time between jobs does not necessarily have to be of the same level of coverage as your prior insurance, but it does need to provide sufficient coverage in case of emergency. The most important thing to do during the time between jobs is to obtain some type of coverage, at least a minimum level, to insure that you will remain eligible for full coverage when you start your next job. Staying HIPAA eligible, even though it may be expensive in some cases, is well worth the investment since it can save you tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses in the future.