Do I have to pay for a whole month of insurance?

Question

I took 12 weeks off under the FMLA for a child birth that was on April 17, so I'm covered through to June 17 due to C-sec, When I told my employer I was coming back to work I was told I had to pay the dues for my insurance on July 1 since my paid leave was exusated. My husband got a new job since then, and we signed up for his insurance instead and I called to cancel my insurance as of July 1. I reveived a letter in the mail from my employer stating I should have paid for my insurance in June. Shouldn't I only be responsable for paying for the week in a half after my 8 weeks?

Answer 1

No, you can't buy insurance "by the week".  You have to buy it "by the month".

Answer 2

If you and your family use a loaf of bread every week, but next week you will be leaving on 3-4 day trip and won't need a whole loaf. Do you think you could go to the store and tell the grocer that you only need a half loaf of bread?

You can't buy bread by the slice and you can't pay for health insurance by the day.

Answer 3

Your employer may pro-rate for you, if you ask nicely. Most plans are just glad to take you off the books.

That being said, were you paid for FMLA? If so, then your premiums were coming out of your pay. If not, were you paying your premiums after-tax?

This is really going to be at the employer's discretion, in the long run. If nothing else, calculate how much your premium would be for the time you feel is unpaid, and drop the check off in the Benefits Department, and ask them why it isn't pro-rated.

Answer 4

Not real versed in the FMLA act, but I am taking it to mean that your employer was obligated to pay for your insurance until June 17. Usually health insurance is paid monthly, which means they probably would have paid it for all of June. Some insurance companies allow the employers to retroactively cancel the policy to, let's say a date that the employee left, and they may be able to do that in this situation, but that does not mean you are responsible for the portion they were obligated to pay for. They can break it down to daily portions and bill you for the portion you they were not obligated to pay for. Remember though, their payments to the insurance are lumpsums. It was probably already paid, and they are just trying to recoup that money.  Sometimes they try to do this because HR people don't want to go through the hassle, but stand up for yourself. The alternative is just to cancel the policy as of jun 17, or today, and be without it for the week or so. There is always the possibility they would have still paid your insurance for the month and wouldn't cancel it until July.

Call someone who deals with the FMLA, and ask them how to deal with these guys.

If you were obligated to pay a portion of your insurance, and it usually comes out of your paycheck, you may owe that portion of the insurance. Since they usually have to take it out of your paycheck, and you are not getting a paycheck from them, they haven't had the money there to take out for you. If this is the problem it means they kind of loaned you that portion, as they usually paid it ahead of time, and now you owe that amount back to them.

Answer 5

Insurance is not usually paid by the day or by the week.  Monthly is usually the smallest payment amount.

But, why are you asking us this question?  It's a question you should be asking your employer.  If they have an HR person or an HR dept, it is their responsibility to know the answers to these questions.

We don't know enough about your insurance plan or your employer or what kind of agreement the employer has with the insurance provider or what kind of agreement the employer has with the employees to properly answer your question.