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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    4

    Default Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    Hello. I'm a security officer working in Cambridge, MA. for a large web-stream providing company. Recently, they sent all the officers a form that looked like it was a sign-up form for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I don't want any insurance, so I asked a coworker what this was for. He said it was just so "the company could get a quote on a rate for us". Still, it looked like a sign-up form, so I hedged and didn't fill it out or give it back to the company.

    About 2 weeks after initially receiving it, my supervisor called me while I was on my shift and asked me about it. I hedged, still not feeling comfortable and told him I'd "get it to him". I also asked again what this was for and he reiterated that this was just to "get a quote on a rate for the company". He then asked me for my social-security number, which I gave(he has this information anyway). I didn't think this would be a problem, since I'm not officially signing up for anything.

    Well, lo and behold, this morning I just got in the mail an envelope from Blue Cross/Blue Shield with my new insurance card!

    My question: this was entirely illegal, wasn't it? Who do I contact about this?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Il.(near StL,Mo.)
    Posts
    5,252

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    Why do you not want insurance - do you have health ins. elsewhere?

    Talk to your HR Dept.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    And in MA, it's illegal not to have health insurance.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    Quote Quoting Betty3
    View Post
    Why do you not want insurance - do you have health ins. elsewhere?

    Talk to your HR Dept.
    because I don't need it. In the last decade, I've been to an emergency room or doctor's office twice. Both times, I paid the bill. It's an agreeable arrangement for me. It's far cheaper this way.

    I'm a security officer. I don't make much at all. Barely enough to make ends meet, really. I can't afford another $20-$100 a week taken out of my paycheck. At the very least, I should have been given the choice of various plans, so I could pick the least expensive one, don't you agree?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    Right now, you need it because the state of MA says you have to have it, and you can be fined and/or lose tax credits if you don't.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    Quote Quoting cbg
    View Post
    Right now, you need it because the state of MA says you have to have it, and you can be fined and/or lose tax credits if you don't.
    Really? I had no idea...

    There's no legal recourse to protest this? I'm not just going to roll over and comply with this.

    I'm sorry, am I in the right place here? I thought you people were lawyers or something.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    I don't know how you could have missed that in July of last year, a state law went into effect making it MANDATORY for all residents of Massachusetts to have health insurance. It was in all the papers, was all over the TV, and insurance carriers were advertising that you still had time to get coverage if you called their 800 number. Anyone who did not have insurance coverage by December 31 can be subject to fines, loss of tax credits, or both.

    Even since December 31, it's been mentioned many, many times in the media as the Massachusetts law has been used as an example of the type of health care plan that Hilary Clinton wants to implement.

    Unless you've been living under a rock or in a cave, I don't know how you could have missed this.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    2,006

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    Your not going to win this fight and since you are bearly getting by as it is, how exactly do you think your going to fight this AND win?

    I amazes me, you don't know how lucky you have it. There are people ALL over the US wishing that they had health insurance so they weren't lining up in bankruptcy court. People who have worked their entire lives and have saved and bought things to make them happy ...then its all gone. You may think you don't need it now, your lucky that you haven't had bad health (must be a very clean non-fungus forming rock you live under).

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    3,835

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    Quote Quoting cbg
    View Post
    I don't know how you could have missed that in July of last year, a state law went into effect making it MANDATORY for all residents of Massachusetts to have health insurance.

    This seems to surely invite litigation? It sounds like an unreasonable excercise of the police power and Due Process issues come to mind.

    They force a person to work 15 hours a day to afford to buy health insurance, then he drops from exhaustion from working so much?


    Can I ask you a few questions regarding this?

    1. Do you know of any court challenges that have been mounted because of this new law??

    2. Is it civil or criminal in nature? Any possible jail time for violations??

    3. Are the fines a one time slap or is it deemed a continual violation and the fines stack up?

    4. What is the minimum cost of such compliance (any idea), say for one?

    TIA

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    2,006

    Default Re: Workplace Signing Me Up For Health Insurance Without My Consent

    I believe that it's also mandatory in the state of New York. Not sure if it's exactly the same or not.

    They force a person to work 15 hours a day to afford to buy health insurance, then he drops from exhaustion from working so much?
    Ah, if one is exhausted from working 15 hours a week, they probably qualify for disability. There are pending laws in several states to prevent companies from not offering health insurance to the working person. It puts the costs on the company and not the state.

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