Health Insurance question! PLEASE HELP!!?

Question

My husband (we are recently married) works for UPS and has his insurance with BlueCross BlueShield, We have spent weeks upon weeks trying to figure out how to add me (his wife!!) onto the insurance. We've called the insurance company several times, and they have said they will send us a paper to fill out and need a copy of the marriage license...we NEVER receive anything. So I tried calling UPS' human resources...talked to several people there. They have told me there is a 60 day time period from the day you get married to add the spouse to the insurance, and that we may have missed the deadline.

So 1st... does the 30day deadline sound right to you? can they do that?

and 2nd... does anyone have any suggestion on what to try next!? We've been married for almost 3 months and I really need his health insurance.

THanks in advance!

Answer 1

If, after appealing with your HR department, you still can't get on the plan you should look into a short term medical plan. These plans don't have all the bells and whistles of a permanent policy but they will cover you for catastrophic illness and accidents. Contact a local agent for help in finding a plan for you.

Stay away from medical discount cards. They are not regulated by the Department of Insurance nor do the people that sell them need to be licensed nor insured. This means you have little recourse when you have problems with the plan. If you are tempted by the low price and claims of “save up to 80%” be aware that very few doctors actually take these cards. It does you little good if you have to drive 4 hours to find a doctor that will accept the card. Montana couldn’t find any doctors in the whole state that actually took the card and only one dentist who was on probation for unlawful activities so they banned the sale of the card and fined the company. See this link http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/wes... for more information. Many other states are starting to ban these cards as well.

Answer 2

Usually, you have 30 days to add since this is the federal guideline for a qualifying event. Since you have obviously missed that deadline, your only other option is to wait until open enrollment and get added then. This is usually in November. But ask and make sure you have the paperwork in hand prior to that date, so that you don't miss it!

Get UPS involved in this. They may be able to bypass the deadline. The forms you need should be in the HR deptartment.

Answer 3

You are obviously getting a brush off from UPS.  Call Blue Cross directly and ask them what they require in order to add coverage for you.

Answer 4

Your first mistake was calling the insurance comany.  UPS is the one that adds an subtracts people from coverage. Your main source of contact is the HR department at UPS.  Call the insurance company for clams related information.

As long as you wrote down the names of the people you talked to and the dates you talked to them you can probably get UPS to make an exception.  But, if you have no proof then you're going to have to wait until open enrollmen comes around again.

Answer 5

If you've been married for 3 months, then you're pretty much stuck until open enrollment.

Your husband should have asked these questions of his Human Resources representative before the wedding.  That way, he could have had the paperwork in hand, and it would have been easy to submit within 30 days after the wedding.

On group health insurance policies, you always go through the employer to add dependents.  Your employer is responsible for getting the paperwork to the insurance company, after you turn it in to them.

Adding dependents within 30 days of a qualifying event (such as marriage or birth) is a standard rule, which comes from an IRS regulation regarding pre-tax benefits.  Its not something your employer has control over.

Your husband can see if someone in his HR can help you guys out, but if you didn't contact UPS human resources within 30 days of your marriage I wouldn't be too optimistic.  Sorry.  (UPS can't violate the IRS regulation, unless there is a legitimate reason.)

P.S.  If you guys plan on having children, keep in mind that you need to turn in the paperwork to add the child to insurance within 30 days of their birth too.  Get the forms from HR ahead of time!