What are my rightsif my employer stopped paying my insurance premiums and didn’t tell me?
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What are my rightsif my employer stopped paying my insurance premiums and didn’t tell me?
I had health insurance through my job 4 months. 15% of the premiums are deducted from my paycheck every month. My employer sends the insurance company a check each month for the total amount. When I was admitted into the hospital this week I was told by the insurer that I have not been insured for over 2 months due to non-payment. I phoned my employer and was told they sent the check but it was lost in the mail and the are working on getting insurance coverage reactivated. However my share of the premiums still came out of my check and they didn’t tell me. Who is responsible for the medical bills?
Asked on August 13, 2011 Oklahoma
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
In this situation, your employer is probably responsible for the bills, since you can show that the money was properly taken out of your paycheck by your employer, but they did not make sure that the money got to the insurer. The employer therefore was likely either negligently (or unreasonably carelessly) at fault, in not making sure that the premiums were paid and the insurance reactivated before two months went by, or if the deliberately did not send the money (which is possible, after all--you only have their statement that the "check was lost in the mail," and if it was, they would have become aware of it--the money would not have been taken out of their account--and had a chance to correct the problem), then they would be liable due to an intentional bad act. If they won't pay, however, you will need to retain an attorney to sue them.
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