Pregnancy and Short-Term Disability

What is the name of your state? Connecticut. I was covered by a short-term disability policy at my old employer until the end of May. Then, I began employment with a new employer and signed up for their short-term disability policy on June 15th. I found out in early July that I am pregnant and probably became pregnant around May 29th. Will my disability leave be covered by either policy? If so, which one? Also, all documents I have received from my new insurance carrier indicate that the pre-existing condition exclusion only applies to conditions for which you have sought treatment within the prior 12 months. I did not seek treatment for this until early July. However, I have heard from co-workers that the short-term disability policy does not cover women who are pregnant when they sign up for it. Does it matter that I was covered previously and signed up during the first 30 days of my new employment?

Pregnancy

Each health insurance company has very specific guidelines for coverage. Send an inquiry to the company if you can't reach the agent.

You will NOT be covered under the old policy. They ceased to have any responsibility for you when you left your old employer. The fact that you were covered by them at the time you became pregnant is immaterial - your coverage was terminated for all conditions when your employment with that employer did.

You might or might not be covered under the new policy. The laws that specify that pregnancy cannot be considered a pre-existing conditions apply ONLY to health insurance. A short term disability policy MAY exclude pregnancy on the basis of being a pre-existing condition if they choose to. However, we can't know if yours does or not. We also don't know what their definition of pre-existing is. The answers to both those questions will be found in your plan document. You should have received a copy of the Summary Plan Description when you signed up. If you did not, your HR department should be able to answer your questions.

This is not a legal question - the law does not address it. This is an insurance policy/contract question.