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 Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:23 am Post subject: Cancelling health insurance - Can I do it? |
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My health insurance is through my employer but I'm seriously considering cancelling health insurance since their rates are way to high. Can i cancel the plan anytime I need? or, there isn't anyway out of it? 
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J Walker
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:35 am Post subject: |
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Walker, let me tell you one thing first that its not always a good plan cancelling health insurance policy. You may think that what the group health insurer is charging you for the coverage is high, you would find the private health insurance rates are even higher.
However, if you are paying for the policy through the pre-tax income you may not be able to cancel it before the next enrollment period. Hope you would reconsider your decision.
~Jeremy |
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JeremyHolter
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:45 am Post subject: |
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J, how much to you reakon a trip to the ER costs and a couple of xrays, then maybe an mri? WAY MORE that your premium honey...seriously cancelling health insurance BEFORE you have ANOTHER health policy in place is a REALLY BAD idea...how much is it a month?
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Lori
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:45 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | there isn't anyway out of it? |
Well, if the employer decides cancelling health insurance carrier between the term, your policy would get cancelled automatically, vis-a-vis, if the insurer decides not to offer coverage to your employer any long it would also cancel the plans. However, there are few other factors that may allow you to make changes in the plan...
- Divorce or change in the marital status
- death of the dependent
- change in the dependent status
- change in your employment status
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bluebell
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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| How old is the policy? There are also locking periods for few policies usually 3 years. Surrendering may surely not beneficial before this period. Few policies offer returns on the accumulated premiums though not continued further , as of here. |
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VIJAYRAJ
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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You may be able to cancel your policy and get a less expensive one in the private market. This depends on your employer's rules. Cancelling health insurance policy may not be possible until the next open enrollment period.
Here are the steps I recommend.
Contact your human resources department to see if you can cancel your policy. Don't cancel it yet, just see if you can. If you can, proceed to the next step.
Contact a local agent to see if you can get substantial coverage for a lower price.
Apply for a policy that will start on a future date that coincides with a date that you can cancel your policy.
If approved proceed to cancel your policy.
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Alston
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:23 am Post subject: |
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| Hi Alston, I always thought that group health insurance is a cheaper alternative than buying private insurance in the open market. Ins't that true? Can the OP get a cheaper rate for the health plan than the one with his employer? |
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jeorge
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:43 am Post subject: |
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I don't think it always goes that way!
Group health insurance premiums should be calculated upon a lot of other factors. What if the average age of the group is much beyond your actual age! What if a couple of them in that group has some health conditions!
I'd rather go for an individual health coverage under such circumstances.
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anonymous00
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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In some states group insurance is often MORE expensive. This is true when individual insurance plans are underwritten and group plans are not.
If an insurance company is forced to take everyone who applies for a group insurance plan regardless of their health status, the group policy will be more expensive.
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Alston
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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"I always thought that group health insurance is a cheaper alternative than buying private insurance in the open market. Ins't that true?"
The thing to realize is that with group insurance, your employer is typically paying a larger portion of your premium than you are, so that $200 (or whatever it is) may be only part of the total $450. IIRC, the average group insurance premium hovers around $350 while the average individual premium is around $250. As far as the original poster goes, if they work for a small employer they may be better off getting an individual policy for several reasons.
- Small employers get absolutely gouged on group rates
- Small employers sometimes pay little if any of the group cost, so employees are stuck with more of the bill.
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GuyInGeorgia
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:43 am Post subject: |
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| J walker, can u brief for our info how U arrived to this conclusion that the better options? |
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VIJAYRAJ
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:48 am Post subject: |
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A trend that I have been seeing recently is that although an employer is paying a decent portion of the employee's premium, they are starting to pay very little if any portion of the employees family members part. i used to only occasionally run into that with small employers but it seems to be spreading to larger ones now.
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beatuplunchbox
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| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 3:39 am Post subject: |
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| Most of the time you cannot beat a group health plan. Make sure you do not cancel your group coverage until you know for sure you can get approved for an individual plan. |
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insurancebydave
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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You want to prepare a insurance cancellation letter so that you can send it to your insurance company when you want to cancel your policy. You may find that you need to use a different insurance because of price or other factors but that letter will give you protection
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fatherbride
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:19 am Post subject: |
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Jeroge, the group health insurance may not always be the cheaper alternative, rather, since the insurer can't exclude anyone from the group plan the cost of coverage gets distributed amongst the participant of the plan. And, therefore, you may end up paying more premium than required for the not-so-healthy participant of the plan.
Further, if you are between jobs and choose to continue with the existing coverage, the cost of the entire plan would come to you which can double the premium rate on the policy.
Regards,
Juanita |
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Juanita
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