Canceling health insurance with the company your work for?
A gal at work is having some problems canceling her health insurance with the company we work for. Our company is saying she CAN NOT cancel her health insurance policy with BCBS since its not open enrollment. The reason she wants to cancel is because she got coverage with a different company. Is it legal for our company to say she CAN NOT cancel her policy??? How could she afford to pay for both!
It is not the company that says this, it’s the insurance company. The insurance company only allows for changes during open enrollment or if there is a significant life event, such as marriage, birth of a child, death of an immediate family member, etc. This is the only time changes can be made.
Why does the insurance company do this? It prevents people from getting insurance only when they need it and not being insured when they don’t need insurance. For example, most people only visit the dentist once every 6 months. If an insurance company allowed participants to sign up and cancel their insurance at any time, then you could sign up for dental insurance the month that you are going to the dentist (so that the insurance company will pay) and then the next month cancel the policy because after all you won’t be going to the dentist for another 5 months. Then you could sign up for dental insurance the month you go to the dentist, then immediately cancel. While less common, the same thing can be true for health insurance. A person could decide to get health insurance one month, when they know they have to go to the doctor (i.e. they just came down with the flu and need to go to the doctor) and then once they are well again cancel their coverage.
I completely empathize with your co-worker. If a person doesn’t understand insurance very well, then it would make sense that the company should allow her to cancel her health insurance. Whoever helped her get health insurance through a different company should have reviewed this with her so she wouldn’t have to pay premiums for two health insurance policies. Check out this site, if you want to find the cheapest health insurance just in one minute,
http://cheap-health-insurance-usa.blogspot.com/
Here you can get free quotes from different health insurance companies in your area, its the best way to find an afforable health insurance with a reliable company.
Best Wishes,