Not sure if anyone on here is well versed for this question or not, but needing some help with a question regarding medical insurance coverage

Sorry in advance for a lengthy post, but we had our kids on my medical insurance for 2023 and then decided we want to put them on my wife's insurance beginning 2024 because it would be better. Her insurance asked for proof of coverage from mine showing that they were on mine for 2023. So I contacted mine and said I need this information. The lady said she would mail it out to me. When I said that email or fax would be fine, she said she can only send it through the mail. So we waited (this was early to mid Dec 2023)

Now it's getting to be later in the month and still haven't received. Unfortunately we got caught up in the holidays and we never received the correspondence by the end of the year. Finally we get to early Jan 2024 and we still haven't received anything but my wife was able to get it staightened out on her end. However her insurance said that the kids would not begin coverage until Feb 1 2024 (so my kids had no insurance for the month of Jan 2024)

Low and behold my son suffered from appendicitis and had to have his appendix removed about 3 weeks ago. With no insurance we are up a '**** creek without a paddle' with this bill we received from the hospital

Question: is there a law or anything that says the kids should still be covered from my insurance until the new insurance starts? Or are we truly stuck with this entire bill since they didn't have coverage at the time of my sons surgery (the one month period)?

Most hospitals will negotiate a bill if "cash pay" because of no insurance. I know this doesn't take into account what you will have to pay especially when you thought you had insurance in place. I would argue with your wife's insurance company that coverage should've attached on 1/1. Most health insurance for most employers is through an employer-sponsored health plan even if you know it as United Healthcare or Aetna or Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Your wife should talk with her HR department to see if they can make sure the insurance dates back to 1/1, as was intended when you made the enrollment election in November.

To my knowledge, there is no "law" that requires insurance be provided to them.

Thank you for this. We will be checking into it

Due to current tax laws, the insurance companies have to provide a statement that the person was covered for the entire year. Login to your old companies website and look for that coverage statement.

EMY92 said:

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Due to current tax laws, the insurance companies have to provide a statement that the person was covered for the entire year. Login to your old companies website and look for that coverage statement.

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Odd, we switched our kid from my insurance to my wife's this year for a couple reasons and we didn't need to provide anything.

could you elect Cobra for that time period? I believe it works retroactively.

Thank you very much for all of the helpful information. I will be looking into some options

htxag09 said:

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EMY92 said:

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Due to current tax laws, the insurance companies have to provide a statement that the person was covered for the entire year. Login to your old companies website and look for that coverage statement.

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Odd, we switched our kid from my insurance to my wife's this year for a couple reasons and we didn't need to provide anything.

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Same. My husband switched from my employer's insurance to his own employer in 2023, and we didn't have to provide anything. His employer provides better coverage, but it's INSANELY expensive for me to be covered by them, so we each have different insurance.

Interesting….and my wife's insurance (that we are switching/switched the kids to) is BCBS