HIPAA For The Self Employed If you don't have employees. HIPAA is very unlikely an issue for your business. It may have some affect on you as an insured coming from an employer's medical coverage to your own. If you have employees and offer a group medical plan, you may be affected by HIPAA. Read the HIPAA section in the Employer area of this web page. Certificate of Coverage In this case you will receive a certificate of coverage from your prior employer which you will need to give to you new medical insurance company. This certificate confirms the amount of time that you have been covered by medical insurance. If you worked less than 12 months for your prior employer, you'll need the certificate from the employer before last. Why do you need the certificates? HIPAA says if you had qualifying coverage for 12 months prior to the new medical coverage, then the new company must cover any pre-existing conditions. There can be no longer than 63 day break in coverage though. Cobra counts as qualifying coverage as does individual medical and employer sponsored group medical. HIPAA does not guarantee that an insurance company has to issue individual coverage. Small groups are guarantee issue, especially in Minnesota. If you have employees Go to the Employer section of this web page to access information on how HIPAA affects employers with employees. The basic criteria is to be affected by HIPAA you must have 50 or more eligible employees OR have a third party doing some type of administration for the medical plan. If you are fully insured, under 50 employees and do all your own administration work, HIPAA probably is not a issue for your company. Click here to read more about HIPAA and employers (Plan Sponsors). er.HIPAAps.com