An Update on the Insurance Debacle

I wrote two months ago that my employer denied health care coverage to my newborn because I applied 4 days beyond their arbitrary deadline. (Read the full article here.)

I was scrambling for about two weeks trying to find insurance for her. It turns out that most insurance companies will not issue an insurance policy for a baby independently unless that baby is at least 1 years old. I would have to also pay for independent coverage for myself (which I don't need because I am insured through my employer) in order to cover Delaney.

I finally discovered that our state provides insurance coverage to children under 18. So, yes, even though I have never had to take state aid before and even though I am gainfully employed, my baby is now covered by Medicaid. There is something seriously wrong with this.

I am paying $40 a month for her coverage, which is very reasonable. Also, if I paid back premiums from the month of her birth, the insurance policy covered all of her expenses. (Thank goodness!)

I stewed about this for about a month before I scheduled an appointment with the president of the company to talk about this. I had to wait another three weeks to see her. I did not expect her to decide to cover my baby; I have worked for my employer long enough to know that they NEVER bend the rules. I did want to draw her attention to this problem.

She was very cordial when I spoke with her; even she did not know our sign up time for new family additions was so stringent. Surprisingly, she agreed to look into bending the rules for me since I was only four days late. She also thought that it was important that Human Resources remind new mothers to fill out the proper form for coverage for their babies. (I still can't believe NO ONE in H.R. told me about this even though I had to talk to them repeatedly to arrange my leave of absence.)

However, as I knew would ultimately be the case, she called me back about 10 days later to tell me they could not insure my baby because apparently several other workers have also missed the deadline and it wouldn't be fair if they choose to insure Delaney but not the others. She did say that she would make it a priority to get the word out about the deadline.

Yes, I realize it is ironic that I am writing this one day after I wrote about my employer's generosity in giving me a 16 month leave of absence to stay home with my baby. (See that post here.)

An Unexpected Financial and Personal Bonus

Back in February, before my daughter was born, my husband and I made the difficult decision that I would give up my income and be a stay at home mom as I have always wanted. My husband is finishing up his dissertation for his Ph.D., so the income he could bring in would be from temporary sources and would not include insurance.

We looked at a variety of insurance plans and were overwhelmed by the price. So, I decided to ask for another leave of absence at my job instead of just quitting; that way I could keep my insurance benefits while paying out of pocket a smaller expense than getting private insurance for our family.

I wasn’t sure what the response to my request would be because, at the time I asked, I had just come off a leave of absence with my second child nine months ago and because I was asking for a 16 month leave. (My first leave of absence for my second child was 10 months long.)

While investigating my leave, I was informed that I could use some of the sick time I had accrued during my 10 years on the job to get at least a partially paid leave of absence. (I had not even known this was an option; my first leave of absence was entirely unpaid.)

To my surprise and delight, my full 16 month leave of absence was approved. Five months of that leave will be at my full rate of pay. During that time I will not have to pay extra for insurance benefits and my retirement will continue to be funded. After that, my leave will be unpaid and I will have to pay out of pocket for my insurance benefits.

What a wonderful gift we have been given! Between my full time salary for the first five months and the fact that my husband can now work instead of watching our kids while I work, we should be able to set up quite a nice emergency fund to last us through the unpaid leave of absence. I am so grateful for this. Now the only loose string is my husband’s degree. He has to graduate before the 16 month leave is over.

My Costly Four Day Mistake

I received a phone call yesterday from the hospital where I delivered telling me they were having trouble processing the bill for my daughter because the insurance company said my baby was not on their list of insured. I immediately called my place of employment and was told I needed to fill out a form to add her to my insurance. I went to my job within two hours of that phone call and filled out the form.

Today I learned that my employer has denied coverage of the baby. Why? It says in our contract that an employee must add dependents within 31 days of the baby’s birth. I filled out the form on day 35. This is a policy my employer implements; the insurance company does not. My employer can choose to waive the deadline, but chose not to. I honestly did not know I had to fill out this form. I somehow thought the insurance would just add her on based on the delivery at the hospital. Looking at it now, I can see that this was a naïve thing to think.

I understand that my employer is abiding by the laws of the contract, but I am just sick about this. We will now have to pay for hospital bills for my daughter related to the birth, four doctors’ appointments, and one blood draw. Not to mentions that she is currently uninsured and I have to scramble to find health insurance for her. (She won’t be covered by my employer’s insurance until January 1, 2011.) This is going to be a huge financial hit. We have a healthy emergency fund, but I see it being partly depleted because of this oversight.

Deciding to Stay Home, Part II

In part I of this post, I outlined the long path through my husband's educational career and my full-time career. You can read that post here.

We have two choices—I can keep working and he can keep taking care of the kids. He probably won’t be able to graduate for another two years. Neither of us is satisfied with this option. Or, we can take a huge leap of faith, and I can quit my job to take care of the kids while he finishes his degree and graduates no later than December, 2010.

We have thought long and hard about this. We have prayed about it.

I am not good with leaps of faith. When I was 17, I worked at a dry cleaners. I went to school with the boss’ granddaughter. The hours were perfect for school—3 to 7 p.m., and the pay was decent. However, the granddaughter and another girl who worked there regularly stole anything—money, sometimes drugs—anything customers left in the pockets. They made fun of me endlessly for not doing the same. I was miserable, but I was also loathe to give up my job security. The final straw came when a woman left her diamond ring in her skirt pocket and the granddaughter and her boyfriend took it to be appraised. I couldn’t stand to be in that environment anymore, so I finally quit. After I had done it, I regretted not quitting earlier.

I have held my job for nearly 10 years. I have enjoyed it, but as our family grows and I watch our children growing, I wish I was able to stay at home as I would like. Kids grow so fast! I am thankful for the security my job has brought us and for the fact that we have not had to incur any student loan debt during my husband’s education. However, both my husband and I feel if I continue to work full-time while we have three children, his education will continue to take a back seat to the rest of our lives. It is time for the leap of faith.

We are trying to save 5 months’ living expenses before the baby is born in April. We may need to take out student loans. At this point, we both feel okay about doing so because we have avoided it so far and it may be a necessary evil to final propel my husband to graduation. My husband can get an assistantship in the fall, and I could always work part-time. I also want to grow my eBay business more before the baby comes. I would also like to pursue freelance writing from home.

If we get VERY desperate, I have a nice retirement we could tap into, but I would NEVER do that unless we were literally about to become homeless. Still, it is a nice comfort.

You may notice my money saving kicking into high gear. We only have a few months left with a steady income. Next week I will outline my business goals for the year with the idea of quitting my job in mind.