Question
What is the name of your state? illinois
my father had a heart attack. he was out for a couple of weeks when he went back to work they told him he would be losing his insurance because he did not meet the correct number of hours to keep his insurance in the meantime after the did more test and he was back to work he didnt hear anymore about it then he went back to the doctor and they had to do a triple by pass. and he has been out about a month now. and received a letter that he would have to be on cobra if he wanted to continue his insurance. can a company take away insurance like that when he did not meet his hours due to being out on disability? they are not terminated his employeement they just dont want to pay for the insurance it seems like... anyone know. thanks in advance
Answer
Very important questions that make a major difference to the answer:
1.) How many employees does your father's company have?
2.) How long has he worked for them?
3.) How long does his doctor anticipate him being out of work this time, and when he returns, does he anticipate it being on a full time schedule or a part time schedule? (This one is not absolutely necessary to the answer, but if you can answer it, it would help.)
Answer
1. my father works for nation wide drug store (osco). partime after 28hrs you get full time benifits.
2. he has worked there a little over a year.
not sure how many people at his store actually.
this is how it started. my father had a heartattack they put in stent and sent him back to work he was off for about a month. then went back to work. after working for about 2 months they di a follow up on the stent and it was not working he needed triple by pass in that 2 months after the 30,000 dollar bill came in he was only working about 15 hrs a week from going to the doctors and having to take off. he had the by pass end of september while he was off on doctor care they sent him a letter stating oct 1 he would have to pay for cobra. how can he pay for cobra if the doctor has him out of work.
adn how can you take away insurance while out on disability its not his fault he cant work. ya know. i just feel sorry for my 65yr old father was looking for anyting i may be able to do ... it seems like once all these dr bills expensive dr bills they want to cut his hours so they dont have to pay.
Answer
Okay, here's what the law says.
AFTER your father has been employed for twelve months, IF he has worked a total of 1,250 hours he is entitled to up to 12 weeks of UNPAID medical leave. During this leave, they must leave his insurance in place.
However, if he is still unable to return to work after 12 weeks (and that is a TOTAL of twelve weeks; not twelve weeks per instance) they may legally terminate his employment, put him on an inactive list, or pretty much amend his status in any way they care to. If he now falls into a category of employee that is not eligible for benefits, then they can take away his benefits. The fact that he is still on medical disability does not grant him any more rights than any other employee.
I realize it is a financial hardship; my mother has gone through the same thing. I realize that it may seem to be "unfair". But unfair and illegal are two different things. If he has been out for a combined total of 12 weeks then they may legally take him off the plan and offer him COBRA. And if he has not worked the 1,250 hours before the leave began, then they never had any obligation to keep his insurance in place at all.
Answer
thanks i totally forgot about fmla... ill have check that out and figure out his time worked by past paystubs. see where it falls.
Answer
Since your father is 65 you need to contact an elder care attorney and be sure that he has applied for all of the state and federal benefits available. There may be some supplemental insurance available that may be cheaper than COBRA and provide the same coverage.
You also need to be sure that he has a will, living will and POA. If not your family will regret it later. Check out the article "Growing Old Shouldn't Be This Painful".