Declination of Health Care Coverage

AnneLa · June 2003

Just wondering.............. does anyone have current employees sign a waiver of health care coverage if they're not interested in benefits when they become eligible? If so, do you ask for proof of alternate healthcare coverage by a spouse or parent? How about an enrollment form, and asking for the other carrier name and membership ID number? We currently do this, and I'm not sure if this is a good practice or not. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

LindaS · June 2003

With a former company the enrollment forms had a space for them to decline coverage and they were required to sign that they were not pressured in any way to waive coverage. It also asked the question of whether or not they had alternative coverage although we never asked for verification.

POPEYE · June 2003

We get the EE to sign a waiver stating that they were offered the package and choose not to enroll. We do not ask anything about other coverage.

sandra_d · June 2003

We also ask people to either enroll or waive coverage in writing - we don't require that they provide all the detail that you ask for when they waive - just that they are choosing to waive. I think it is important to document their waiving of coverage so you don't ever get into an argument (i.e. lawsuit) over whether they were ever offered coverage, should they ever face a critical medical situation.

juju · June 2003

Since we give a flex payment to employees who do not choose our insurance, our corporate office requires them to waive coverage (there is a spot on the enrollment form to do that)and provide proof of other coverage (copy of card) in order to receive the flex payment. Of course, we also have employees who do not respond at all to our requests to complete the enrollment form. We send them 3 letters (the last being sent proof of mailing) and I call them a few times if the letters don't generate a response. If they still don't complete the forms by the last day of the month before they were scheduled to enroll, I send them a letter stating when and how we tried to contact them and letting them know that they are not eligible for flex payments or insurance through us until they experience a change in family status or until the next open enrollment.

valentine · June 2003

We have a benefit election form that ee sign. If they do not want benefits they can get an additional $52 per pay period in their check if they provide proof of health coverage. They check the box on the form if they want to elect this. That way we have proof of insurance.

MS HR · June 2003

Another reason you want to get the declination in writing is if someone suddenly claims they signed up for the insurance when eligible and thought they had the insurance eventhough it's not being deducted from their paycheck.
When no enrollment papers are available it's good to have declination papers to prove the employee was offered and declined the insurance.

Declination of Health Care Coverage

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