The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Based on the provided image, the correct answers are:
- Helps workers obtain a medical record.
- Reduces workers’ probability of losing existing healthcare coverage.
Explanation
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly known as HIPAA, established crucial protections for American workers and their families. The law is primarily divided into two main sections, Title I and Title II, which directly correspond to the correct answers.
Title I of HIPAA focuses on health insurance portability. Its main goal is to protect health insurance coverage for workers when they change or lose their jobs. Before HIPAA, an employee with a pre-existing medical condition might be denied coverage by a new employer’s health plan or have to wait a long time before that condition was covered. HIPAA limits the ability of group health plans to impose pre-existing condition exclusions. By ensuring the continuity of coverage between jobs, the law directly reduces a worker’s probability of becoming uninsured simply because of a job change. It makes health insurance more portable, allowing individuals to pursue new career opportunities without the fear of losing essential healthcare protections for themselves or their families.
Title II of HIPAA addresses accountability through administrative simplification, including the well-known Privacy Rule. This rule creates national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal health information. A key component of the Privacy Rule is that it gives patients specific rights over their own health information. This includes the fundamental right to access, review, and obtain a copy of their own medical records and other health information from their healthcare providers and health plans. This provision empowers individuals by giving them control over their health data, which is essential for managing their care. The other options are incorrect because HIPAA does not mandate an “increase” in the level of coverage, nor is its primary function to help process general paperwork.
