Pregnancy and insurance

[Xtina]

Hi BYCers,

I have a quick question for those of you out there with pregnancy and insurance experience. During my first pregnancy, my boss suspiciously "couldn't afford to pay for the company's health insurance anymore" because the company was supposedly in financial trouble. He cut off the whole company's policy and I lost my coverage and had to pay for my entire private insurance premium and everything that that policy didn't cover (around $10k worth - thankfully my dad is the best and he helped). At the time, I figured that he did this just so that he wouldn't have to incur any costs related to my pregnancy, especially since he miraculously could afford to reinstate coverage once my baby was born. I just don't know if this is a true statement, because I don't know how an employer faces financial costs when an employee needs healthcare.

Now I'm pregnant for the second time and my boss is considering firing me before my baby comes out. She's documenting every minor mistake I've made over the year and putting me on notice and completely fabricating other problems and distorting things so that it sounds like I'm a terrible employee who should be fired for cause. It has me wondering again: what sort of costs does an employer face when an employee has a child? I thought that the insurance company covered everything over and above my deductible, minus the percentage I have to pay, and my employer wouldn't have to pay anything. But being faced with losing coverage twice at 7-8 months pregnant has me wondering if they are just trying to avoid having to spend money. Anyone know the answer?

 

[bamachicks8]

goodness that boss is an !@@ no they dont have to pay any extra fees aside from the premium. you need to find a new job asap. im sorry its happening again i hope it all works out

 

[hemet dennis]

goodness that boss is an !@@ no they dont have to pay any extra fees aside from the premium. you need to find a new job asap. im sorry its happening again i hope it all works out

Unless their self insured and just pay some company like Aetna to administrate it.

 

[cafarmgirl]

We are a small business and the premiums we pay are the premiums we pay. Doesn't matter if somebody gets pregnant or not. The employee is responsible for deductibles, co-pays, non-covered services etc. Boss sounds like a real winner who is looking for a way to give you the boot regardless so it's probably time to move on.

 

[duckluck]

Check your PMs, I just PM'd you.

 

[Carols Clucks]

My friend had something similar happen when she was pregnant.

Seems a good employment law lawyer is needed, my friend got quite a nice settlement, she could have paid your dad back and a few more.

 

[oldrooster]

If it is a real small employer their rates might go up when the policy comes up for a rate change or when it comes up for renewal or as HD said if they are self insured it will cost them, but unless their staff are made up of entirely young realtivly healthy people (or have perhaps pre-existing conditions they have to buy the meds out of pocket so there is little mark up on their costs).....

 

[SallyinIndiana]

While it might not be great working there right now, I don't recommend quitting. If you quit, the company gets off a lot easier. You have to pay them the cost of insurance plus some if you want to keep insurance. Also you would not be able to collect unemployment. If they fire you with a list of things your boss says is cause, you can still get unemployment and you can find a lawyer to help you collect a nice settlement as well as reducing the cobra insurance payments back to what you would have paid had you been working there. A court will look at your preformance reviews from before your boss found out you were pregnant too if you claim that you are being treated different (different from when you were hired or different from other pregnant employee) because you are pregnant or because you already have a child and are pregnant with another.
The best advice I would offer is to have a nice sit down with an employment lawyer. Then you can know what to document as well.