need help on what to do UPS dropped child from insurance without notice

[sjpm]

Hello,
UPS dropped our daughter's insurance without notice and now we are told we have to pay for 15 months of claims. I have been with UPS for 12 years. In September of 2014 my wife and I had a child. We sent in everything for her insurance coverage plus sent in her birth certificate for my week of paternity leave. She was added to our insurance with no problems, all her claims had been paid. In April my wife got a bill from the dr saying a claim hadn't been paid. She contacted Teamcare and the person she spoke with thought our coverage started 3/1 and thought it was just a clerical error and the would handle it. This week my wife had a dr appt and they mentioned it still wasn't paid. She called Teamcare and this time they said coverage didn't start till 4/1 and it was under the old insurance. She called our old insurance and after alot of digging they said our daughter had been dropped on 3/25 and UPS said she should've never been covered. They got UPS on the phone and they said they never received her birth certificate. She told them everything had been turned in but if they hadn't received something why hadn't they contacted us, why hadn't the given any notice she was dropped? All they said was we could turn it now but it wouldn't count for the past. She mentioned she knew they received it at least once because my week off was approved and they said that doesn't count towards this issue. We know we turned it in, why else would they have covered her for 15 months. The Drs office called the next day saying they are taking back every payment ever made on her behalf! She spoke with a union rep and he said she may need to get a lawyer but they can't get involved because of HIPAA. This doesn't make much sense to me since it's an HR issue. Please if anyone has advice I'd appreciate it, I never imagined something like this could happen especially with no notice. Thank for your time, sorry for the long post but I wanted to be detailed.

 

[trickpony1]

Unfortunately we, the employees of UPS, are going to start seeing a lot of this. It's how the company does business.

I would suggest:
1) going to the union hall and sitting down with the BA and or the lady in the front office who deals with insurance issues and/or;

2) goggle your state's insurance commission and either drop by their office and sit down and talk or file a compliant on line.

I'm also not so sure the excuse, "....we can't get involved because of HIPAA" is a good one. If you signed a release for whatever party to access whatever records on whatever person, I would think that problem would be solved.

If you will explain your story to the various enforcement agencies as you have above you should be alright.

I would also think that since our healthcare is a negotiated element of our union contract, and it appears you have exhausted all union remedies, you should be free to file with the NLRB/Dept of Labor.

I wish you luck. It will involve a lot of letter writing, phone calls and frustration but, at some point, you will connect with someone willing to do the right thing.

It's a shame it has gotten to this point.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

HIPAA applies to the content of your medical records, not whether or not you qualify for coverage.

 

[trickpony1]

sjpm-

You also need to be aware that Human Resources Service Center (HRSC) is a third party contractor. They are not UPS employees.

Some people think HRSC couldn't give a good GD about anything.

"Mistakes" seem to be common with them.

 

[silenze]

What is this week of paternity leave? Did you take fmla? Vacation? If it was unpaid and not fmla you lost your insurance

 

[sjpm]

Thanks everyone so much for your help. This is really stressing us out. I really hope we get it worked out soon. In response to Silenze when you have a child you can take time under fmla. My husband ( this is the wife typing now) sent in her birth certificate to UPS then in addition to with insurance paperwork. That was 15 months ago.