Employer offers health insurance, but not sure how to enroll

[JoJoJoJo 170]

Hello VJers. I am about to work for a company that provides health insurance and am working on signing various documents. After finished signing all the 10~15 documents, I noted that I did not sign anything related to enrolling a health insurance plan.

 

Am I supposed to talk directly to the heath insurance company? Thank you for your help! (Have not asked the company yet in case it is too simple and basic....)

[Marieke H 2,523]

I work for the state government, and we have an employee portal online with information on how to enroll. Maybe your company has something similar. I think they will inform you about it during your first week at work, but you can always ask about it, nothing wrong with that. I just asked a coworker about it on my first day, and we laughed about how excited I was to finally have affordable health insurance for my family (my husband had been uninsured for a decade because he couldn't afford it, and I was uninsured since my arrival in June).

[jkstark 97]

Ask the company - they all handle things differently, and may have a probationary period during which you are not necessarily eligible either...

[JoJoJoJo 170]

4 minutes ago, MariekeH said:

I work for the state government, and we have an employee portal online with information on how to enroll. Maybe your company has something similar. I think they will inform you about it during your first week at work, but you can always ask about it, nothing wrong with that. I just asked a coworker about it on my first day, and we laughed about how excited I was to finally have affordable health insurance for my family (my husband had been uninsured for a decade because he couldn't afford it, and I was uninsured since my arrival in June).

Thank you very much @MariekeH!!

 

Sounds like the insurance works perfectly for both of you!

 

I used a company portal to sign a lot of documents except the health insurance. Hopefully they have another portal once I start the job  I will definitely find a buddy to ask the first thing

 

 

[JoJoJoJo 170]

13 minutes ago, jkstark said:

Ask the company - they all handle things differently, and may have a probationary period during which you are not necessarily eligible either...

Thank you @jkstark. I will ask them to confirm

 

[Gorkhali 214]

every company has their own system. Mostly, the health and other benefit kicks in after 90 days of employment however, I would recommend you ask your HR department  

 

And if that is the case, then get a health insurance. I had one from "Liberty health" which I paid 185$ a month. This was individual plan for me and I had it till my health insurance kicked in from my employer

[bakphx1 789]

Check with HR.  At my place they default you to coverage for yourself unless you say otherwise.  But do it right away as you could get shut out until open enrollment in a worst case scenario. 

[JoJoJoJo 170]

2 minutes ago, Gorkhali said:

every company has their own system. Mostly, the health and other benefit kicks in after 90 days of employment however, I would recommend you ask your HR department  

 

And if that is the case, then get a health insurance. I had one from "Liberty health" which I paid 185$ a month. This was individual plan for me and I had it till my health insurance kicked in from my employer

Thank you for your reply

 

My future company's health plan starts on the first day of employment. But that is really great advice for those who do not have insurance immediately from an employer.

 

[JoJoJoJo 170]

2 minutes ago, bakphx1@aol.com said:

Check with HR.  At my place they default you to coverage for yourself unless you say otherwise.  But do it right away as you could get shut out until open enrollment in a worst case scenario. 

Thanks for your reply! I will do it as soon as possible