Extremely late COBRA eligibility notice

[kjshearon]

Live/work in NC.

My husband quit his job on 11/7/2015. He participated in group health insurance for himself and our 3 children. We just received notice that he was eligible for COBRA insurance 1/18/16... 77 days after he quit! We have been suffering without going to the doctor for 3 months now when we should have been covered. Also, we are getting hit with a fed government penalty for not being covered for a full 12 months!

What can I do???

 

[cbg]

Don't panic. Most if not all of what you've posted is fixable.

Very, very important. I understand that your husband quit as of November 7. His last day of work and the last day he had insurance are not necessarily the same day. What was the last day HE WAS COVERED? It should say that in the COBRA notice.

Let me know that and then we'll go the next step.

 

[kjshearon]

Coverage ended 11/7/15 per the insurance company.

I'm angry that we weren't given this notice a lot sooner than now. And I have asked several HR professionals I know and from what I am being told there is a strict timeframe that companies have to send this information and we should have gotten it over a month ago. We have three children and have just survived through cold/flu season hoping and praying they don't get sick since they have not been insured. It has been so trying on our family stressing about not having insurance just to find out 3 months later that we actually could be covered still. And not to mention that now we will have to pay a huge lump sum to be retroactively covered instead of having the advantage of paying monthly. They don't seem to understand that they are screwing with peoples family.

This is not the first HR issue we have had with this employer. They also denied insurance to our 4th child, born in May, due to a technicality in their website. Our appeal was denied and when we asked for information on why, no one would talk to us. We even tried to contact the CEO. The second we asked why our appeal was denied we got no more information. But that's a whole other issue.

 

[cbg]

Okay, if coverage ended on 11/7 they are unquestionably outside the legal timeframe. Some places continue coverage to the end of the month and occasionally even longer, so I had to ask, but yes, this is without question unlawful.

First thing you're going to do is ENROLL IN COBRA. Just because they're late doesn't mean you can't get the coverage reinstated retroactively. The coverage will go back to the cancellation date so you won't have a gap in coverage. That will take care of any government penalties. Which, btw, you are still protected from, at least at the Federal level. The Feds count any month that you had coverage for even one day as being a month you were covered, so you should get credit for November, and in general they will allow a 60 day gap in coverage before you are penalized. I don't know about NC specifically at the state level. But once your COBRA is in place you can get a new form showing the coverage as in place all month, so that should take care of that.

Next, you're going to contact the US DOL and file a complaint against the employer.

http://cobrainsurance.com/help/questions/2956/no+employer+notification+of+Cobra+benefits

They MAY refer you to your state Division of Insurance, and it wouldn't hurt to contact them anyway.

I don't blame you for being upset, and I know it's a pain having to pay all that up front instead of spread out. But you are in the right, and you do have legal recourse.

 

[ecmst12]

For 2016 you can have up to 3 months of being uninsured before the penalty will apply.