[dcookie]

GHI are giving us grief about getting Ellie Eun Jin on our plan. I thought there was some law that means insurers *must* provide coverage for adoptees once they're on American soil?

GHI are trying to weasel out of it by saying she's not yet legally ours.

Can anyone cite that law for me, so I can bounce it to these jerks?

Any advice on how to handle this? Much appreciated.

Thanks,

Sean

[waiting4xander]

Hi Sean-

I had been concerned about our son being accepted, so when my husband went to enroll him I referenced an article that I will link here. I hope it helps. It is absolutely a federal law. Good luck.

http://www.adopting.org/uni/frame.php?url=http://www.winston.com/86256A9B006A1054/0/F5E211AA05AC13BA86256AF1004EECE4?Open&Highlight=2% 2Cadoption%2CWSUn21070

[lynnor]

There is a law, but there are a few exceptions. Also, takes effect once child in your custody, not necessarily on American soil

So, if they give you grief still, contact your state Insurance Commissioner (if HR won't help). Usually w/in a couple hours of the commissioner "talking" to them, they have you covered and start sending letters of apology (a BIG no no to deny coverage when required to).

Be prepared to:
provide copy of placement letter (if you don't have one, make your agency write one that states placement date) and also be prepared to maybe have to have insurance under the Korean name until finalized vs American name (not all require that, though).

[dcookie]

Yes, thanks folks. I've been Googling and found a couple of good articles. What a bunch of weasels!

It seems that both federal and state law demands insurers cover adoptees as soon as they are *placed* for adoption. No waiting period until finalization, no nonsense about pre-existing conditions. Basically, they must cover the kids as if they were biological child.

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/bab...n/1374162.html

http://www.winston.com/MeetingCN.nsf...doptedChildren

http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/he...-children.html

[racytracy]

If your insurance is through a large corporation, you may have to get an interim court order proving you are the child's legal guardian (we had to do this, and the lawyer said it's increasingly common for corporations).

Also, there are, sadly, exemptions to ERISA. If you haven't seen the doc and you need a court order, you may want to hold off until after your court date (they should be able to get you in quickly). We were given faulty information by my husband's HR department (he works for a government agency, which is exempt from ERISA) and we were stuck with $2700 in expenses we were led to believe would be covered.

HTH,
Tracy

[tinkerbell11599]

Get your agency involved. We had to do the same with both Ryan and Katie with our health insurance, United Healthcare. They didn't want to cover them without proof that we have them and their adoptions were finalized. Our agency straightened them out right away.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Jen

[ahfdragonfly]

Parsons wrote a letter stating that Mee So Kim was placed in our care for legal adoption on 6/30/05 & something..something..something, both when she came home & when we switched carriers when dh changed jobs a couple months ago. Cheryl could always check our file if she needs to, for the wording. Blue Shield tried to give us a hard time too.

[TickTock]

We adopted privately- but our lawyer said they are OBLIGATED to provide insurance to your adopted/soon to be adopted child as soo as you are responsible for that child- our insurance co. wanted to tell us that until we had adoption papers that proved we adopted her she would not be eligible to be added to our policy. Our lawyer sent a nice letter to them, she was covered the minute she was placed in our arms.

[cthy757]

Here's another link that helped us, too. You have 30 days from the time of placement to add your child to your insurance. Good luck, and don't take no for an answer:

http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=248

Cathy

[gb_ftmtn]

What date is considered the date of placement? Is it the day you actually pick up your child and they are fully in your custody? And then you have 30 days from that point to add them to your insurance?

Thanks,
Aileen

[cthy757]

Placement for us was the day we picked up our son at the airport. If you travel, placement is when you are given complete custody of your child. According to the law, insurance companies must treat adoptive families as though they gave birth to the child. In fact, this is why they are no longer allowed to impose any pre-existing conditions clauses for adoptive families like they have done in the past. In families who give birth, you have 30 days from birth to place the child on your policy. With adoptive families, you have 30 days from the time of placement (or custody) to place your child on the policy...We were given the complete runaround by our insurance company for BOTH of our sons' adoptions!!!!! We were told (incorrectly) that we had to have an adoption decree signed by a judge to add our son to our policy. Well this doesn't happen for six months following placement. If we had done this, we would have been SOL because you do indeed have 30 days from placement to add the child. We told them that we would give them until the end of the week to add our son to our policy or we would be turning the matter over to our attorney. I also told them that our son would not be discriminated against because of how he entered our family. We went in person to show proof of arrival (Our agency gave us a signed arrival notice on agency letterhead), copies of the law, and copies of our placement agreement. It was amazing how quickly he got added to our policy.

Sorry this got so long, and best wishes to all those who continue to fight the insurance battle.

Cathy

[dcookie]

Good advice Cathy, and all. It looks like I will need to get tough on this one too. Our agency called the NY State Insurance Hotline and even THEY say that GHI doesn't have to cover our daughter. They're completely ignorant of the law. They recommend we file a complaint with them to get the matter sorted.

BTW, my GHI plan is through our local Chamber of Commerce. My wife and I are both self-employed so some of the federal regulations don't apply directly to our situation. Still, they're weasels and I won't let them get away with it.

I'll be talking to the Chamber in the morning to find out what answer my contact there got from GHI. Dealing with the Chamber as a middle man is part of the problem, as time is ticking by.

Maddening stuff.

[ahfdragonfly]

Gee, I bet the Chamber would hate to have it publicised that the insurance company they deal with is discriminating against adoptive families ...

Good luck!

[adoptkoreablog]

Our son was covered on the day that he arrived in the US and there should be no question about this coverage. Our insurance (which is an HMO) put him on right away with the letter that we received from our agency stating that we were responsible for the care and insurance of the child.

I work in benefits so I can tell you that in many cases, the first level of contacts at insurance companies are not well trained. If you haven't already, you can request supervisors and then supervisors to supervisors until you get to the top. In addition, government agencies (as you experienced) are also not well trained in all the rules.

Mo

[abcolo]

Get your agency involved. We had to do the same with both Ryan and Katie with our health insurance, United Healthcare

we use uhc too, and didn't have to show any proof. in our case it was as easy as signing up online and that was it.

andrea