Insurance for adopted newborns-know your rights.

One of the obligations in our adoption application is that we have a letter from our health insurance agency stating that our adopted child will be covered under our insurance at the time of placement.  So, it stands to reason that all we would need to do is call the insurance company and say, "Yo, hook me up with a letter please."  Errrrrr!  Nope, when I called they were confused and couldn't give me a straight answer and told me to talk to Sam's employer's HR.  So Sam called HR and they told him that the insurance would kick in once a child was legally adopted.

Well... an adoption for a newborn isn't legalized for at least 90 days after the baby is placed with their parents.  Placement is the term used when the baby goes home to live with you. So, our insurance company was saying that they wouldn't cover our child, whose birth mother had already terminated her rights, until at least 90 days after the baby had already been living with us.  Isn't this a little messed up? What if something happens to our baby during those 90 days?  We rack up $50,000 hospital bill and that's it- no insurance?

After further investigation I found out that it has been deemed illegal in the state of Florida to deny insurance coverage after a child has been placed. So...guess what I can't wait to do today!  Wish me luck as I call back the insurance company and talk to some random person and tell them what the law says and then ask them to write a letter saying the will cover our child at the time of placement.... I have a feeling I should probably pray before and soak in a hot bath after this call.

****WoooHOOO!
This morning I called our insurance company and told her what I needed.  For the first time in my life I got a kind and sweet lady on the phone.  She even congratulated me on the choice to adopt.  When I told her that I needed a letter stating that the insurance kick in at placement she kind of groaned and then put me on hold to talk to her supervisor.  When she got back she told me to call HR again... At least she was nice.  I called HR and of course they were out for training.  I left a nice but probably obnoxious message stating that she had already talked to my husband and told him that the child could not be covered but informing her of several different laws and ammendments (The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA’93), Public Law 103-66, amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Public Law 104-91, which also amended ERISA) which prohibited the denial of insurance for adopted children upon placement. 

Well.... I think I said the right things because she left a message at the end of the day saying that she did some research and I was right and she would email me a letter!  A sincere thank you to the law makers and people that went before me and fought the battle to have these laws in place.  Hopefully this post might save you yourself an extra 4 phone calls someday:)