Can I get insurance through my work if I declined it when I was hired? Only during open enrollment?

Question

My job offers health insurance, but I declined it because I am already on my wife's insurance plan. My wife is about to change jobs and will lose her insurance in the process. Is it possible that my job will let me sign on for their benefits ASAP or will I have to wait for open enrollment in October..eek!

Answer 1

loss of benefits is usually considered a qualifying situation...like birth of a child or marriage. You should be able to sign up now. I must be done within 30 days.

Answer 2

Generally speaking, if you decline when hired, you must wait until the next open enrollment.  However, there are exceptions for certain events, mainly those than can make you gain or lose a dependent, such as birth of a child, divorce, etc.  Some plans do consider loss of other coverage (including that from a spouse's employer) to be an event that allows you to alter your decision.  Check with your employer.

Alternatively, it may be possible to continue the coverage from your wife's former employer by making COBRA payments.

Answer 3

You can enroll in your employer plan mid-plan year if you have had a "change in status" such as your wife changing jobs.  

Fill out the enrollment form with your employer right away and you may be asked for some documention on loss of your wife's coverage, though perhaps someone else here can tell you exactly what the documentation is.  

Also, you will receive a HIPAA transfer letter in the mail after you wife's plan terminates, which you MUST SAVE, since it documents that you had prior coverage and thus pre-existing conditions must be waived for you.    

Handle this carefully, follow up on everything and save your mail and the transfer should go fine.

Answer 4

I think people are confusing the issues....

My first comment is that if your wife worked for a company of more than 20 full time employees , then she would in all liklihood be eligible for Cobra. Now, because the government did this, it gets a little confusing.  If the company had a bunch of part time employees and just a few fulltime, COBRA could still be availble

As someone who has had experience in more than 1 state, it all depends on what your state government has legislated what is a "Qualifying event".

In Ohio, you would be eligible to get on your employers coverage on the date you lost coverage.

Here is what you should do....

1. Have your wife contact her old employer and request the COBRA letter, if the company is not required to do this and COBRA does not apply, they will tell her. If she can get COBRA, take it...

2. Ask your HR dept what is a "qualifying event", which might be called something else in your state.

If they do not know, the broker/ agent should be able to tell you within a few minutes.  This is not rocket science, they should know this,so do not accept them taking a week to answer this.

If they say that your wife losing coverage is not a qualifying event, then you can probably get an individual plan to cover you until you are eligible.  In a lot of states, you can be refused for medical conditions.  In Ohio, for example, the carriers can refuse coverage if you are taking insulin shots as a diabetic.  Another example is that blood pressure mixed with another related condition will also cause a rejection. So as long as you are reasonably healthy, you should be fine. Get rejections in writing

If you still find yourself without coverage, you still have 63 days to get coverage from the day you lost it.  If you tried the steps above and still cannot get coverage, contact your state government and ask if they have a "High Risk Pool", if so, they will may want copies of rejections. If not, I am sorry, but you are a victim of the system.

Answer 5

Wiseghy is correct. What you will receive from your wife's insurance upon termination, is a Certificate of Creditability. In case your group insurance has a waiting period for pre-existing conditions, the coverage you and all other dependants had with the other insurance will count toward the waiting period with your new coverage.

Example:you sign up with the new coverage and the policy states there is a 12 month waiting period for pre-existing conditions with the new carrier. Whatever length of time you had with the old coverage will count toward that 12 months.

So when you get that certificate, be sure that it is accurate.

Answer 6

Open enrollment

Answer 7

sometimes the have special enrollments..other than that you might have too wait...contact you HR dept...they will know in depth