Change to employee contribution for medical/dental insurance

[Guest donnab]

Our company plans on increasing the employee contribution for medical and dental insurance. As of yet, they will not tell us how much the increase will be. Our open enrollment period passed about three months ago. My question is can they legally make a change to the plan when it is not the open enrollment period. What if an employee decides he/she can not afford it and would rather go onto their spouse's plan? They would not be able to drop their coverage because it is not open enrollment and not considered a qualifying event, correct? I would appreciate hearing anyone's thoughts on this.

[Mary C]

Yes, its legal to make a change in cost or benefits outside of open enrollment. Its also addressed in the 125 regs that the employer may then permit the employees to increase their contributions for the remainder of the year, or depending on how significant the cost or change in benefits is, may allow them to revoke their current eleciton and elect on a prospective basis another option providing similar coverage. However, there's no guidance as to what is significant.

Good luck with your decision.