Insurance cancelled and changed - no notice

[Masthera]

I live in maryland and had cobra benefits through a company in pennsylvania. the company that i had my original benefits through was bought out by another company and the benefits changed (with no notice). the original company now has bought back the company but the second company has cancelled everyone's cobra benefits. when i contacted the second company for a refund of 289.00 (my monthly premium) for the month that the insurance had been cancelled, she told me that I was now covered by a different insurance company through their company (again this company no longer is connected to the original company that I had my benefits through in the first place and i signed no authorization to be changed) I had received notification from the insurance company at mid month (after paying my premium for that month) that i had been cancelled fom my plan. In the time being, I was awaiting notice of getting new coverage for myself and was going to ask to have the cobra benefits cancelled. the second company refused me a refund. the billing director from the company, billed the visit that i had the month the insurance was cancelled and It has been denied (the old compay would have covered it). i was never given notification both times the insurance was changed/cancelled. had i been given notification i could had kept my premium and started my new insurance mid-month.

my question is. legally are there laws stating that the second company would have had to have notified me of the changes and/or the fact that I was being cancelled before they actually did it? I would much rather have my premium refunded than to lose out on that and pay 100.00 out of pocket for a doctors visit when it could have all been avoided with some type of timely notice.

Thank you in advance!

 

[cbg]

If the benefit coverage changes for active employees, it changes for COBRA participants too. If the original plan has been terminated, you have no possible way of remaining on the old plan. So the fact that you did not sign an authorization is a moot point.

On what basis did they tell you that your coverage had been cancelled? (non-payment, termination of plan, etc.). It might make a difference as to what kind of notice was required, if any.

 

[Masthera]

the company themselves never actually notified me at all. supposedly (from info i found out from the existing company) the second company cancelled the cobra benefits of 16 people and none of the company employees benefits were cancelled just the cobra benefits. i have a friend who works for the company and has been there through all of the back and forth changes and he had the same basic changes to his insurance when the second company started. but as my premiums went up his went down. now that the first company is back, i believe that the active employees have been placed on the original plan that the first company had with no lapse in coverage. I am sure that he has not gone through the mess that i have gone through. the second company cancelled the coverage because they were bought out by the company that first owned the business. (confusing huh!) I was paid up to date and had paid my may premium before the 1st (when it is due) and was notified on the 15th by receiving a bill from the health insurance company (which i had to call and ask about) when i called they stated that the coverage had been terminated as of the 1st and if i wanted the coverage to continue i would have had to pay them a premium. i had already paid my premium to the other company that month through an independent company that took care of the premiums. with the first company, i paid my premiums directly to them. when i called the second company the woman i spoke to at first was confused and was contacting the independent company to find out information then she told me that i was covered by a completely different insurance plan than the previous plan and different from the other employees which has no relevance to her having had conversations with the independent benefit company. i had received no notice, no cards, no information of the change, just bills to pay more premiums. i did get insurance on my own so i am not concerned with the insurance that they are offering. i feel like i am being taken advantage of and that they should not have gotten my premiums ( which the independent company supposedly sent to the second company still before notifying me of anything) and do not understand how a company can change your insurance around with no notification prior to the change. i was never an employee of these companies. my ex-husband works for the company and i had the benefits from that. if that makes any difference. i have exhausted myself with trying to figure all of this out. i just want to make sure that they are not scaming me.
thanks again!

 

[cbg]

An employee on COBRA is entitled to exactly the same coverage and notices as the active employees; no more and no less. As a result, they do not need to give you advance notice if the active employees get none (and that's more common than you might think for many reasons, some of which are in no way the fault of the employer). I've personally been in a situation where I had to change the coverages for all employees, active and COBRA participants, on less than two weeks notice, simply because that's how much time the insurance carrier gave me. Between negotiating rates, getting completed enrollment forms, having the information entered into the computer, having new cards created, issued and mailed, that was simply how much time there was available.

At no time do they have to ask your permission to change you from one plan to the other if the active employees are also all being put on the new plan. If the active employees don't get a choice, you don't get a choice. If they do, you do.

If I'm following your story correctly, if the active employees were put back on the original coverage you should have been given the same opportunity. They definitely fell down there. However, it sounds to me like you fell through a crack in the confusion rather than anyone trying to scam you. I've been through a sale/merger process more than once and it can be quite confusing trying to see that all employees, active and non-active, get all the appropriate forms and notifications, especially when there's more than one change happening at once. Since you already have new insurance, unless this is going to result in your not having bills paid (in which case I would contact the first company and ask to have the coverage reinstated for the period you were uninsured) I would advise you to let it go. It would undoubtably cost you more to pursue it than the coverage would be worth.

 

[Masthera]

It is always nice to get a view from the other side to see how things work. it gives you a different understanding as to how things work.
I thankfully got my new insurance during the beginning of all of this and that has given me a lot less stress that if i had not. the second company had been a little "shady" since the beginning and that is why i was questioning the change. i had never run into this problem with the original company. now i don't have to be concerned with either company at all and that is great by itself. i just wanted to make sure that they were not taking advantage of me. Thanks for your reply!