Less than 2 weeks ago I was notified by our county health department I had a change in health status and I've tested positive for HIV. I've since seen my personal doctor who has tested me again. Today I'll go see the Infectious Disease Specialist. All of this has started raising questions in my head about my expecatation of privacy, about my insurance, and about the amount of information that will be exchanged between my insurance company and my employer (if any). I recently decided that I might want to relocate, now that I am HIV+ I'm not sure about attempting a new start because this insurance part has got me really worried. After reading several of your articles I keep seeing two common denominators "creditable Coverage" and "open enrollment". I wanted to know if you could clarify for me 1. Why the open enrollment is so important, are there disclosures or loop holes provided here that are not common? 2. Creditable Coverage? Does this mean if I leave my job now I should take Cobra until I can get in on the new employers open enrollment, and that if I do this I cannot have a lapse in insurance for more than 63 days? I'm not clear on exactly what the ideal situation would be in this regard. I'm guessing you'd want to start your new job around the time of open enrollment (as you've stated most company's do this between Nov-Jan)? Trying to make heads or tales of this and dealing with the HIV stress can be so confusing which leads to depression. I'd like to fully understand these two line items better. Thank you for a really helpful forum and all the wonderful information I've obatined thus far. Matt in Tampa

1. There is the initial enrollment period and the annual open enrollment period. Enrolling during the initial enrollment period is critical because if you fail to enroll during the initial enrollment period (typically 30 days from eligibility), you cannot enroll until the next enrollment period which is an annual open enrollment (usually in November or December for a January effective date). In addition, if the plan has a pre-existing condition clause in it, it can apply a pre-existing exclusion period of 18 months instead of 12 months for late enrollees. 2. With Creditable Coverage (CC), the critical thing is not to have a break in coverage of 63 days or more. If you don't have a break in coverage, then any new group plan must recognize your prior period of coverage, i.e., CC, towards any pre-existing exclusion period (period cannot be greater than 12 months or 18 months for late enrollees).