Defining creditable coverage under HIPAA

[RLG]

Under HIPAA, I am seeking clarification, explanation, or case law on two issues related to defining creditable coverage for purposes of waiving the pre-existing condition exclusion. The first issue is whether previous coverage must provide similar benefits in terms of geographic coverage and level of financial coverage. The second issue is whether the coverage must be terminated, or must cease; e.g., if the previous coverage is provided through the spouse's employer but the other parent wants to enroll dependent in a better plan does spouse have to lose insurance for it to be considered creditable coverage?

 

[ellencee]

Pre-existing conditions are either accepted or delayed in qualifying for benefits based on each insurance policy's declarations. Perhaps posting the exact wording from the declarations would allow someone to answer your question based on your policy.
I have never heard of someone having to 'lose' insurance in order to drop a dependent from coverage, whether to change insurance for the dependent or not. I have experienced insurance policies that have only certain times of the year when changes to the policy can be made.
If one parent is court ordered to have insurance on a dependent and the other parent wants to enroll the child in a better plan through his or her employer, that leaves the issue of following the order. In this scenario, the parent ordered to have insurance would need to pay for the increase in premium the other parent will incur.
If you still have questions and concerns, you can call or write the Insurance Commissioner for your state (which I do not see posted).