Health Benefits Dropped Due to failure to "re-enroll"

[ivydst]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
This occured in Missouri to a friend of mine this year. Apparently her company was changing Health insurance companies, or plans, I'm not sure which. In any event, they apparently required all employees to go to a web site and reassert their health coverage elections. For whatever reasons, she failed to do this correctly and didn't realize it until the company sent out a benefits confirmation statement in January that showed she had zero health insurance coverage. The confirm statement was sent out after the supposed deadline. They are now telling her that she will be uninsured until next year.

It seems like any changes should have at least defaulted to like-for-like based on the old elections.

Is there any recourse here? Seems like they should be able to do something for her.

 

[Hot Topic]

Your friend is out of luck. Obviously other employees understood how to make their selections. If she had any uncertainties about how to make hers, she should have asked.

 

[cbg]

Federal law limits what the employer may and may not do with regards to changes to health insurance elections. As the above poster said, the other employees all managed to make the proper elections. The time for her to ask questions was beforehand, not afterwards.