i qualified for health insurance as a new hire, so i went ahead and signed up for a dental plan. today i went to the dentist. got free cleaning and x-rays and went home
i'm still in the enrollment period; can i go into the benefits center and cancel my plan without ending up with a bill? it doesn't seem like i should be able to do that, but if i can then why not. my teeth are good i can make it till next year without the dental.
the mylifeatkroger number said i can still change my plan but i didnt ask them if i could cancel it
This is a reason HealthCare is more expensive for everyone. You either want HeathCare or not, If you wanted it sign up and benefit. If you didn't want insurance and pay for it, you should have ripped up the enrollment information.
Why would you want to cancel anyway, when you are required by law to have insurance?
You'll end up paying it out of your tax refund anyway. This is an incredibly stupid way to try to cheat the system.
Not really required anymore. Well, it is on paper but there's no longer a penalty, but there was never a way to enforce it. When I didn't have it, my tax preparer was able to file an exemption and I never paid a penalty. It was always extremely easy to get out of.
Well congratulations on being a health individual, you will learn you either pay for it now or pay more later. Just because something isn't required or enforced doesn't mean you shouldn't have/do something.
Here are two scenarios of what would happen if you decide to cancel your insurance coverage.
Scenario A: the change to your benefit elections wont be retroactive. So you would have had insurance coverage when you saw the dentist and you would not get a refund on the premiums youve already paid.
Scenario B: Kroger retroactively terminates coverage, so it would be like you never had the insurance to begin with. In this situation you would receive a refund of all premiums paid and the insurance company will take back the money they paid to your providers for your claims. Then you will be billed full price and possibly interest for the services that you received, as you werent insured. If a provider is contracted with the insurance company its in their contract that they will allow the insurance company to do this. If the provider you saw wasnt contracted with the insurance company then the insurance company will bill you for what they paid in claims.
Kroger is a self funded group, so basically Kroger pays the insurance company (Anthem, Kaiser, Select Health) to pay the claims on Krogers behalf so its possible Kroger could withhold that money from your check.
the ethical thing to do is to keep the coverage, youve already used it Inusurance isnt an mythical money tree Its sharing the risk between individuals since youre using the insurance you should have to pay for it, and by not paying for it youre contributing the costs for everyone elses insurance rise
However if you want to know what your options are and the outcomes your best bet is to call the friendly people at Kroger Benefits