So I started working for this company September 2017. I was told during the interview by one of the co-owners that they offer health insurance which I would be eligible for after a trial period. However, this co-owner, let's call him John said I would have to talk to to the other co-owner, let's call him Bob about when I would be eligible for insurance who is in charge of HR at the company (this is a very small company). However Bob was not present my first week. So I asked Bob when he was back in the office when I would be eligible for insurance (John guessed 90 days - 6 months) and Bob didn't have an answer for me then, and basically said I don't know. Now my biggest mistake was not following up on this as I actually was in hopes of getting another job within the coming months so I wasn't concerned about getting health insurance at this company. Fast forward a few months to January, my boss John is aware of the other job prospect I have and I have a meeting with him as he asks me what it would take to make me stay. This convo was more in depth than I need to explain here, but health insurance was brought up as I currently have a very high premium and deductible and John certainly talked up the health insurance and mentioned I should be able to join the policy after 6 months. February rolls around, marking 6 month employment there and I go to Bob about being added to the company health insurance policy. Turns out I could only join immediately when hired or when they renew the policy which was in January. He tried to talk to his insurance broker to see what could be done and after 2 weeks of going back and forth with Bob and John about being able to join, the solution as said by Bob is getting temporary medical coverage, which my employer would assist in paying and I would select a plan that would have a much lower deductible and premium. I should mention my office manager, Larry has been a huge help in trying to make sure I can be added to the policy. He told John health insurance was very important to me and would be a deal breaker in leaving the job. John told me 2 weeks ago he would solve this for me and last week while Bob was on vacation he talked to the insurance broker and asked what could be done to add me to the policy. The only solution seems to be that I "quit" and then the company rehires me immediately after. I'm concerned on what affect this will have on me. On the other hand, I'm also apprehensive about getting a temporary healthcare plan outside of my company cause they would want me to buy 3 policies (90 days a policy) and I actually do still have this other job prospect on the table that I would absolutely take if I get it and I don't want to be locked in paying for 3- 8 month coverage of the policy if I do leave for this other job that offers great health insurance. Also I talked to the broker myself and he said an Obama Healthcare tax may apply to costs since I'm not buying through the ACA market (which is what I have now) and in response to this Bob said I probably wouldn't, although that doesn't sound promising. In my defense Larry has said he would continue to fight to get me added to the policy as I was given the wrong information when I would be eligible to join the company policy. At this point I'm just frustrated. I'm not the most knowledgeable with health insurance, but I also feel health insurance was promised to me with inaccurate information so I believe it is my employers job to fix this and add me on the policy. As a side note a friend told me that companies with over 20 employees are required to offer their employees health insurance. I don't know if this is true or not, and I'm not sure if there are 20 employees as we have a warehouse and I'm not sure how many are employed in the warehouse, but it seems like it might actually be 20 employees.
Am I just completely screwed at this point? I feel like it shouldn't be this big of an issue to join as I assumed my employer would just have to pay a penalty or fine for joining outside the enrollment period (being a new hire or after the company renewed it's policy) I would appreciate any advice for my situation.
tl;dr My employer promised me health insurance when I got the job and gave me the wrong info when I would be eligible, now it's been a 2 month battle trying to get on my company's insurance policy. One co-owner tells me I can while the other co-owner said I can't as enrollment has ended (have to be a new hire or join when policy was renewed in January and said I should buy a temporary health care plan which I would like to avoid.
Submitted March 26, 2018 at 05:27AM by throwaway_4paper https://ift.tt/2Gucq0n
