Health insurance for baby

[mels823]

Hi everyone,

Coming over from Feb 15 for a quick post since my baby was born mid January.

Has anyone else not heard back from the insurance company yet in regards to adding their child on?

My husband works for the state of MA and after tons of phone calls back and forth from HR and health insurance, they finally got him the form he needed and an address to send the paperwork to.  He filled it out, sent it in, and we haven't heard anything back.  Didn't even think about it until I received a call from her doctor's office today saying they don't have anything health insurance information for her yet. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to talk with them at the time.  I'm freaking out because it's past the 30 day mark and everything I am reading says that under no circumstances can she be added now if she hasn't been already... AND my hospital stay may not be covered??

Is it normal to not hear back within the 30 day time period? My husband refuses to be worried and says he will just re-send the paperwork.... he doesn't want to believe me that it doesn't work that way.

Did this happen to any of you guys? Anyone have any advice on this? Thanks!!

[Deleted]

No advice but you did your due diligence within the necessary time period and that's all you can do. If they give you a hard time, you can argue your case.

I called the insurance company and asked them if he'd been added about two weeks after he was born. They didn't have the paperwork yet but told me not to worry. i received his insurance card about a week later.

I would call the insurance company and follow up. Explain that you sent the paperwork on X date and didn't get a response and you'd like to know what's going on.

Good luck! Try not to stress too much. Everything is going to work out, even if you have to go mama bear on them.

[hazelnut]

My sister had this happen back in September. She had to keep following up after receiving bills and statements saying her daughter wasn't covered. HR said she was covered and to call the insurance company because it must be something on their end, the insurance company said to contact HR, and she continued to receive bills. She just had to stay on it and it eventually worked out. Good luck!

[luckypenny]

I just got a bill for thousands of dollars because they still don't have baby's insurance updated. DH called and they said they are still working on it and to disregard the bill. Baby born 1/22.

[mels823]

Thank you SO much for these responses. I figured I cannot be the only one this has happened too. I am such a worrier and definitely am losing sleep over this. It makes me feel better to hear of cases where it got figured out successfully. I swear every time we tried to call HR to follow up they were closed because of snowstorms. Why is health insurance always so damn complicated?

I wish I was the insurance subscriber though because my husband is going to lose his mind with the back and forth phone calls. Oh well! Parenting means having to toughen up, right???

[backseatdriver]

It took 10 business days dor my daughter to get added once HR received the info they needed.

[emmyg65]

Call the insurance company in addition to the HR office.

[mels823]

Finally got my husband to make some phone calls today. He says his HR lady said she sent in the paperwork.... Do fingers crossed she really did! She said the state is running 3 weeks behind right now but promises it will be ok and dye will be added on to the insurance. I feel much better now. Thanks for the input ladies!