my wife's work F*cked up Baby Steviesterno's insurance, need guidance.

[steviesterno]

Hey all,

ok so here's what we're dealing with so far: wife went on maternity leave from work to have the baby, Born 1/30. Baby was covered under mom for 31 days. In that time, my wife called her HR department at work 3 separate times because she couldn't register the birth as a "qualifying event" from the home computer. Those 3 calls were never returned. I believe there were emails sent as well, but I'm not sure. We were putting the kid on her insurance (not mine) since hers is better. I let my 31 day window close.

Work cut her maternity leave 2 weeks short of the 12 she was supposed to have, because she was hit by a car and out on FMLA for 2 weeks in October. During this time home, her deduction for health insurance went up, because HR said we were paying for the kids insurance.

cut to now, we're getting rejected claims from the kid's pediatrician because he was never actually insured! HR told us he was, but it turns out they were just increasing her deductible because she was being paid monthly, not weekly. HR is REFUSING to add the kid to her insurance, even though they admitted 100% error on their parts to get it fixed.

now they are giving her the run around. She's already livid, because they are messing with the kid's health. also, she was supposed to be paid a her yearly bonus today, but they screwed that up, too. now nobody knows if she's actually getting one or not, or what it will be.

we can't add the kid to my insurance until August's open enrollment. we're not thinking we'll have a ton of expenses, but really you never know. Only way to add him now is to get divorced and re-married (seems like a real hassle) or she quits her job and both go on my insurance. I'm ok with that, but it will really hurt our savings. we are working on reducing expenses, but have only been half-assing MMM for about 6 months. although yesterday while all this was happening, I got paid and my 403 went up and we hit 10% of our retirement goal!!! not as far as many of you, I know, but a statistical amount that's not zero made me happy. celebrated with a  fancy coffee I had given up 6 months ago in the savings race, and hated it. so back to tea!

[pbkmaine]

Does she have a good relationship with her boss, and does he/she have clout in the organization? If so, she should request a meeting, lay it all out, tell boss she may have to quit to get the kid covered even though she loves her job, and let boss call and scream at HR.

[bobechs]

You might consider consulting a lawyer who has a labor law practice.

It is not a big case, but this is a situation where if the company has even an inkling that they might need to defend their action legally it will cut through a lot of obstinacy by the offending part of the company.  The hint might be dropped verbal comment or a letter from the lawyer, depending on how far you want to take the thing.

[Felicity]

That is awful!

Document everything, regardless of what option you take for now. Print out emails (or save/forward to personal accounts), write down dates and times of phone calls (including information about who you spoke to and what they said).

[AZDude]

Yes, document everything, and then call her boss(not HR) and explain that she is running out of options and is thinking of resigning and looking elsewhere or talking to a lawyer, just so baby stevie has some insurance. He most likely has enough clout to get stuff moving, and a real cost(losing an employee, being subjected to a lawsuit) will help justify going around "company policy".

A real example from my own past:

HR screwed up my insurance somehow. I originally received insurance cards for both myself and my wife/child. Then after a couple months, and right before the LO had an appointment, I get a new card with just my name on it. I contact the insurance company and find out my wife/child was dropped. I call HR, and after some run around I am told flat out that I will have to file an insurance appeal which will take up to 45 days and there is no guarantee of a positive resolution even after that. Until that is resolved, I will have to pay for everything out of pocket.

I was very unhappy, but after a very pointed conversation with both HR and my supervisor I ended up with the correct insurance coverage the same day.

[Captain FIRE]

Quitting seems like considerable overkill (cutting off nose to spite face) for something that will be resolved in a few months at worse case scenario. 

Document everything
Reach out to the boss and explain the issue, request his/her assistance.
Sit in the HR office until it's resolved (face-to-face, no emails that can be ignored)
Escalate up the HR chain
Be the polite PITA until you get this resolved - be clear this is not going away, it's their fault so they need to retroactively adjust the coverage, or worst case, if retroactivity is not possible, that in lieu you'll accept reimbursement of your added out of pocket expenses (make sure you're not taxed on this or you'll need extra to cover the taxes)

[MerryMcQ]

As a previous benefit manager, I can tell you that the HR team may feel like they can't enroll the baby because it is past 31 days. The plan documents are probably very, very clear on this deadline and enrolling a dependent outside that deadline can cause a huge legal nightmare for the health insurance. Many times the insurance company themselves won't allow it, either, and the HR team's hands are tied.

However, most insurance companies have a 90 day "window" where they allow benefit administrators to add a dependent that wasn't added, if it fault was a computer mistake or the like. So if the employee attempted to add the dependent during the 31 days, and the computer system was down, they allow it to be corrected and no plan violation would exist. Your voicemails and emails would be proof that you intended to enroll the infant.

Since you are almost to the end of that 90 days, I would print out copies of the emails, along with the dates the voicemails were left, and have your wife go into the HR director's office and calmly state her case - like on Monday. HR should be able to contact the insurer, explain the error on their part, and have the baby added retroactively.

If the HR director won't do anything, then escalate up to their boss. I would also suggest getting your wife's manager involved and asking her manager to come to the meeting.

Before your wife quits work, or you get divorced, I would just consider getting a cheap policy for the baby until August and paying out-of-pocket.

[bobechs]

Before your wife quits work, or you get divorced, I would just consider getting a cheap policy for the baby until August and paying out-of-pocket.

And send the bill to the company.  Because even if HR is completely unable to do anything but say no, no, no, our hands are completely tied...  the Accounting department is still capable of writing a check.

[steviesterno]

thanks for the help everyone... we're still working on all of it. I think one of the problems is we're both running on less sleep than we have been, and she's not liking going to work right now. I get that. one of the other problems with her job is she's been doing all this work she wasn't hired for, and it's taking her farther from her desired field. The company is kind of crazy, but they pay well, so she's having trouble with deciding what to do. I don't blame her. I'm doing about 80% stuff I wasn't hired for and got no raises for it, so I get the frustration.

I think we're going to Obama care for a few months as we continue to be the squeaky wheel to her work and her insurance provider. I'm sure it would be cheaper for the company to just fix it or pay the difference than even field a single letter from an attorney, but they don't always make sense.

Though this is a good lesson in why it's worth it to live below our means and be on the track to FIRE. knowing that we have enough emergency money and saved up for her to just walk out if things get nuclear is a really nice feeling. de-escalates a lot of stuff.

I really think it's the Momma bear's "don't mess with me or my cub" kicking in. Plus with everything being screwed up all in one week, it's a lot to deal with. on top of a stressful work load and decreased sleep, we're all going crazy.

[forummm]

I think we're going to Obama care for a few months

Might be too late for that. I think you have a 60 day window after a birth for the special enrollment period.

[kimmarg]

I assume you've talked to the insurer directly? Same thing happened to a coworker. He thought the kid was added and discovered after getting a bill when the kid was sick a few months later that he wasn't. After some calls to supervisors, etc the insurer was able to add the kid retroactively (after all they covered the birth so they knew he was born)

[little_brown_dog]

You need to speak with the insurer directly and get a manager or higher up from HR to talk to you. You should be able to have it retroactively added if HR can confirm for you that it was an error on the employer's part and not yours.
 HR totally dropped the ball on this and you should be pissed...but, you also dropped the ball. If 3 calls went unanswered, you should have emailed, driven down to HR and refused to leave, called the insurer and had a conference call...SOMETHING...to get things fixed before the enrollment period for the baby closed. Ignoring it and waiting for them to call you back while the window expired was a mistake (yes, the first few weeks of having a baby suck, but understanding how you erred will help you address the issue going forward). Thankfully, if you are persistent now, you should be able to fix it.

[Blonde Lawyer]

I hope you have a PI attorney for her getting hit by a car too.  That attorney should be willing to write you a letter for this situation.  If you don't have a PI attorney, you should get one.  They usually just take 33% and you pay nothing up front.