Hi, I am currently insured by Blue Cross/Blue Shield under my company plan for the last 14 years. My wife is covered under the same plan but had some heart problems last year and was admmitted to the hospital and treated for cardiomyopathy for 3 days. Since April 09 she has returned back to work and is doing quite well since she is only 43 yrs old but is required to take meds and get checked with cardiologist every 6 months. If I change jobs will different insurance cover her condition?
The more immediate concern is making sure that the coverage through the new employer is sufficient enough to cover her current health care needs. Not all insurance policies offer the same level of coverage. If you leave your current job and lose your coverage with Blue Cross Blue Shield as a result, you will have the option under COBRA to keep your wife on the BCBS plan if the coverage under the new group health insurance policy is insufficient. You will have 60 days to make this determination. Answer by Moderator - Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 3:53pm 1 CommentLeave a comment |
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This should not pose a problem. It is true that an insurance company can impose a exclusionary period for pre-existing medical conditions for new members. However, under federal HIPAA regulations, any length of prior coverage must be credited to this exclusionary period. For example, if the new insurance company has a 12 month exclusionary period on pre-existing conditions, and your wife only has 6 months of prior creditable coverage, the exclusionary period will be reduced to 6 months. If she has had 1 or more years of prior coverage, which it appears she has, then the exclusionary period will be removed.
I need help, I am not sure who I should contact. I once worked for the state of Indiana. Since the privatizing of the Public Welfare System, I am now working for one of the vendors. In the original contract(2007), the state negotiated with the vendor to gain health insurance that was equal to the insurance that the state offered to it’s employees. During the re-enrollment period in 2009, the state of Indiana changed to an inferior health insurance plan. The company I worked for continued to offer the better plan during re-enrollment. Three months after re-enrollment, I received an email. The e-mail stated that because of the contract that ACS had with the state, they were required to also change to the inferior health insurance plan. The email stated that there would be a special health insurance enrollment for those employee that transferred from the state to reselect health insurance from other plans that the company offered. The new plan offered changed drastically and the other plans were worse. I looked into my husband’s healthcare plan, and it was much better. But I was told by my human resource rep, that I was not allowed to enroll in my husband plan due to IRS regulations, that there was no life changing event that would justify me to refuse coverage from my employer. The new plans would impose a financial burden on me and my family. This is a special enrollment period, what laws prohibit me from changing?
Dorothy Napper
Comment by Donna — March 1, 2010 @ 4:40 pm