[blueblood]

Adding a sick bride to work insurance policy?

by blueblood on Tue Nov 01, 2016 6:28 pm

A previous coworker recently married his fiancé after finding out she has several brain tumors. I don't know much about her disease. The diagnosis moved the wedding date forward to provide FMLA to the groom. She currently has a temporary (?) major medical policy set to expire in January. He asked my opinion,

I told him she could get a new policy (exchange or not) during open enrollment now effective January 1. He heard yes and no from other sources.

I told him to add her to the company policy without knowing for sure if they could reject her prior diag­nosis or make her wait a waiting period. Seems like I heard 60 or 90 days in the past. Probably like a new hire waiting period. I think they could span the waiting period with her existing policy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[Multibilly]

Re: Adding a sick bride to work insurance policy?

by Multibilly on Tue Nov 01, 2016 8:26 pm

Getting married is a "quali­fying life event" that would allow that person to either get on to a new policy via the exchange or on to the spouse's group company insurance (unless there are some specific restrictions with that company's policy) at any time during the year.

As of 2014, group company health insurance and individual health policies (ACA or otherwise) cannot disqualify a person based on pre-existing conditions, nor charge them a higher premium. Special waiting and lookback periods for those with pre-existing conditions are also a thing of the past in the USA.

Every company I've worked for had no special rules for adding a newlywed spouse or a newborn baby to the policy at any time during the year. But I imagine there are probably some companies that do have restrictive policies in this regard.