noyceguy...
Thanks for confirming my response to your question as
useful. I'll repeat it here in a formal answer for the
sake of future readers:
----------------------------------------------------
Since there is the COBRA law, which provides a legal way
to retain membership in your former employer's health
insurance for up to 18 months, providing you pay the
premiums, surely remaining enrolled is at least unethical,
if not illegal, since your former employer is paying a
share of the ongoing premiums without their knowledge.
At the least, I would think that they would legally be
entitled to some compensation for the intentional
failure to act on your part. At the least, the manner
of your dealings with your former employer would seem
to violate the legal concept of "good faith".
Perhaps the language of the COBRA regulations would give
you some insight into the likelihood that your inaction
in this case would constitute an intent to defraud:
http://www.cybersure.com/InsuranceTopics.asp?DocId=3893
On the other hand, the employer is required to notify
the plan administrator within 30 days of your termination,
and the plan administrator is then required to notify you
of your right to elect continuing coverage under COBRA
within 2 weeks following the notice they receive from your
employer. If you did not receive any notice of your right
to convert via COBRA, it could be argued that the employer
did not fulfill their obligation to notify the plan
administrator.
Nonetheless, in researching this situation, it is so
difficult to find similar cases that it seems very unlikely
that, if it went to court, the verdict would be in favor
of your failure to give notice of ongoing coverage of
which you were obviously fully aware. Unfortunately, I
have not been able to find documented evidence of this
opinion.
It *is* permissable, under certain circumstances of being
terminated, for a former employee to use their former
employer's health benefits, so the health insurance
company wouldn't tell you otherwise, but I don't think
your situation applies, which is why it was suggested
that you contact your former employer.
----------------------------------------------------
As for your decision to stop using the coverage from
your former employer, this seems like a good middle
path.
As to whether this tactic will preclude legal action
based on previous claims, this is anybody's guess,
as, again, there is little on the internet about
this specific situation and possible outcomes. We
can still examine likelihoods, as follows:
You didn't clarify whether you were notified of your
right, and obligation, to continue coverage under
your employer's plan via COBRA. If your employer
failed to notify the plan administrator, or if the
plan administrator neglected to notify you after
being notified by your former employer, then you
probably shouldn't lose any sleep, since these
errors would limit your culpability to some degree.
If you did receive notification with regard to the
need to convert via COBRA, obviously your risk is
greater than if this was not the case.
Realistically, there is no guarantee that, somewhere
down the road, an accountant won't notice the error,
and this is especially risky if your former employer's
company is continuing to make monetary contributions
to the plan during the entire time prior to the error
being found, since failing to notify them contributes
directly to that situation.
This may be offset by the fact that you have not
made recent claims, and they may forgo contacting
you if the amount is disproportionately small in
contrast to the company's overall budget for these
contributions. In other words, the larger the number
of active employees who are contributing, the less
likely they are to haggle over the costs incurred
by your failure to notify them.
While time works against you in the sense that the
longer it is before it's discovered, the more the
company will have contributed on your behalf, it's
also true that the longer you go without making a
claim, the less likely they are to see you as
intentionally misusing the error - and there's
also the possiblity that it will never be discovered,
especially since it hasn't been up 'til now.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
sublime1-ga |
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