Employer provided health insurance, do you really know???

[Beeman]

Another happy thread about health insurance. If you have employer provided health insurance do you really know if you have insurance? I know this sounds strange but companies are collapsing daily and filing bankruptcy. Do you know if they're paying the premiums? Here's my happy story from a job years back. I had employer provided health insurance. We had some health issues through the year and used the insurance along with our co-pays and everything was fine. Employer had the doors padlocked by authorities for various reasons. A few months later the bills started coming. Evidently they stopped paying the insurance along with many other bills. The health providers and the insurance companies took a long time filing and refiling paperwork before it came back to me. Needles to say I paid them off and got another lesson in life.

[Danaus29]

Several years ago our township stopped paying it's insurance premiums. Only the clerk knew about it, until employees started getting denial letters from the ins company. I don't know if their bills were ever paid. The only way you know is to call your insurance to see if your coverage is active.

[sgl42]

i read about a 2 years ago, when the mortgage brokers and home building companies started going bankrupt, about a company that cancelled the health insurance a few days or a week before laying everyone off and filing for bankruptcy. Because they'd cancelled the policy before the layoff, the employees didn't have COBRA coverage. Anyone with pre-existing coverage was essentially out of luck.

Out healthcare system is completely out of control, but there are still many people who don't realize it yet, because it's paid by their employer and they haven't personally had any problems. As the economy gets worse, and people who've had stable jobs for a long time get layed off, many will be very surprised about how many gotcha's are in the system, and what the costs for insurance are.

--sgl

[7.62mmFMJ]

All the more reason to take control of your own destiny.

Anybody screwed in that manner likely has a viable lawsuit - but does a bankrupt company have any money?

So, take the cafeteria plan where they pay you the cash in lieu of health insurance. Then buy your own. Then you know where you stand.

[Ramblin Wreck]

In most states (maybe all) you should get an insurance card from you health care provider that indicates your coverage. If that coverage is terminated, the insurance carrier should notify you that your card is not longer valid/usable.

[Danaus29]

My card says, "does not guarantee coverage" right on it.

[watcher]

The docs I deal with call the insurance company to confirm the coverage every time I visit. I guess this happens often enough for them to check up on it.

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by watcher

The docs I deal with call the insurance company to confirm the coverage every time I visit. I guess this happens often enough for them to check up on it.

Too much time lag and lack of communication. It sounds funny here in the computer age but it all unfolds slowly.

I've never worked for or heard of a company that pays you cash in lieu of taking the insurance.

[Spook]

No, happens all the time. I know one guy that had 300K of medical bills thrown back at him. BK company, no recourse. He went bankrupt, after his wife divorced him, that way she could keep some money. If ya don't have your health, ya don't have much. If ya don't have insurance, ya have less.

[Spook]

Originally Posted by 7.62mmFMJ

All the more reason to take control of your own destiny.

Anybody screwed in that manner likely has a viable lawsuit - but does a bankrupt company have any money?

So, take the cafeteria plan where they pay you the cash in lieu of health insurance. Then buy your own. Then you know where you stand.

Maybe. A lot of scams in the health insurance biz. You should ask your state insurance commisioner for a list of licensed, bonded companies. A company might pay some small claims, hit a big one, then disappear. It's hard to beat employer sponsered plans. And the best are if your employer is the government in one form or another.