I've been working with a referral over the past few days. This young man works for a regional retail store, and thought he'd enrolled for the group health insurance during their most recent Open Enrollment period (he was a relatively new hire at the time), but found out unexpectedly (at the provider, natch) that he had not, and was currently uninsured.
So he went to HR to try to get back on-board, but his appeal was denied. Ken was told that he'd have to find another health insurance plan, "any plan," in fact, and then cancel it to be eligible (yeah, didn't track for me, either, but there it was).
Over the course of several emails and phone calls, Ken shared with me this little tidbit that seemed to confirm what he was being told:
[click to embiggen]
Eagle-eyed readers will note the two rather glaring problems here. First, does no one use spell-check any longer? Second - even more egregiously - as I pointed out to Ken, "Credible" coverage would mean any ID card I successfully PhotoShopped together. And it's not like "Creditable" coverage is a new term, it's been around for at least 20 years.
In the event, we still had to get him something for a month, but with ObamaCare's Open Enrollment in the rear-view, and no Special Open Enrollment triggers available, what to do?
Of course, this is a perfect use of Short Term Medical (I mean, how much shorter of a term could there be?), so we got Ken signed up for March, and we'll cancel it at the end of the month so he can qualify for group coverage.
What's that? "Playing chicken, you say?"
Yup:
My concern is that we'll get to the end of the month, cancel the STM, and then find out that it wasn't "Credible" coverage, after all. All we could do then, of course, would be to look at another STM, or perhaps explore other options for the balance of the year.
I'm not happy about this, but at least we've bought him some time.
I'm not happy about this, but at least we've bought him some time.
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