By: Kelly Dempsey, Esq. 

In past blogs, we’ve looked at eligibility issues from the perspective of leaves of absence, continuation of coverage, and the subsequent gaps that can arise if the plan language is not clear. For this blog, we’ll back up a bit and look at the bigger picture.

Eligibility issues are typically very fact specific – meaning employers and TPAs have to look at the details of an individual’s situation in order to determine if someone can join the plan, modify enrollment, and/or leave the plan during the plan year. Joining the plan involves HIPAA special enrollment rights and plan obligations – the requirements are clearly defined. Special enrollment rules also come into play when an employee’s life situation changes and the employee seeks to add dependents to the plan. At first thought leaving the plan seems to be a no brainer situation – if the employee wants to leave, let them leave…right? Not so fast.

More often than not, health plan contributions are made pre-tax through a cafeteria plan. If a cafeteria plan is involved, the situation can get complicated with the additional consideration of permitted election change rules. Section 125 permitted election change rules can limit an employee’s ability to leave the plan or make other modifications to elections, such as changing the amount of an FSA contribution. To add one more layer, Section 125 is essentially a ceiling and not a floor – meaning it is up to the employers whether or not to include only some of the permitted election changes instead of all permitted election changes available under Section 125.

Now an employer and TPA not only have to review specific facts, but they have to apply two sets of rules and two plan documents (the medical plan and the cafeteria plan). For example, an employee asks the employer to drop health plan coverage saying that “it’s too expensive.” Without a change in status, cost change, or other situation outlined in the permitted election change rules, the employee could very well be stuck in the “web.”

It can be tricky to reconcile rules that overlap each other (side note, overlapping rules happen a lot in this industry…). If you need an extra set of eyes (since we aren’t spiders and don’t have 8), don’t hesitate to reach out to The Phia Group – our consulting team can help get you untangled.

Who knew eligibility could be so difficult?