Health insurance coverage and job termination, What are my rights?

[rebeccapiet]

Florida

I was fired from my job on Sept 18, 2008. I had health insurance through the employer and the premium was deducted in whole for the period ending on 9-27-08. I had gone to the insurance website (BCBS) and found myself still as active on 9-22-08, so I got a complete physical. In Febr 09 I received a bill from the doctor stating that I had to pay this because my insurance was cancelled on 9-18-08. When I contacted my previous employer I was told that the corporate office had said that the insurance should be covered until the pay period ending and that they would take care of this for me, but I don't get anything in writing.
In the mean time I have received several bills from the service providers stating my bills are overdue, please pay! I did contact them and explained what the problem was and was told that they would put these on hold. Unfortunately I recently received one from a debt collector. I contacted corporate, but the lady in question from HR is not returning my calls even written messages have been left for her and ignored. Please, anybody, would should I do?!

[cbg]

Except in one state, and that state is not Florida, the law does not dictate when your insurance coverage ends after you are terminated. The plan document for the health insurance, and ONLY the plan document, says so.

If the plan document says that coverage ends on the last day of employment, then it ends on the last day of employment. If the plan document says that it ends on the last day of your final pay period, then it ends on the last day of the final pay period. And if the plan document says that it ends on the last day of the month, then it ends on the last day of the month. NO EXCEPTIONS. THAT is what the law says.

Speaking as the one who frequently had the responsibility for doing the cancellation, I can tell you that it is by no means unusual for coverage to show as still active several days after the technical last day of coverage. It is not my first priority to see that coverage is cancelled on the actual last day of coverage. Often I did not KNOW that someone had been terminated until several weeks after the fact when a monthly report came around. Cancelling the coverage retroactively to the date specified in the plan document is entirely legal and far more common than anyone who didn't work in HR, and quite a few who do, would believe.

What you need to do is get hold of a Summary Plan Description (SPD) which will tell you what the plan document says about when coverage terminates. They are required by law to give you a copy on request (though they are not obligated to drop everything and make it a first priority). If, upon receiving the SPD, it says that coverage is termed on the last day of employment, then you are out of luck. If it says that it terms on a different day, and you incurred the charges on a day that the coverage should have been active according to the plan document, then you can complain to the US DOL, which is the regulatory agency for this kind of issue.

Were you offered COBRA? And if so, why did you not take it?

[rebeccapiet]

Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I was offered COBRA for 'only' $1800 a month, I don't think so!!
Were would I get the SPD?

[rebeccapiet]

In the meantime would it be smart just to start paying those bills so my credit does not get effected?

[ecmst12]

Of course you should pay the bills, because there is a better then 50% chance that the insurance cancellation was correct and you actually owe them out of pocket.