Q: In an earlier column you wrote that "insurance companies cannot deny (health) coverage, no matter what the pre-existing condition is, if the gap is 63 days or less, or after a worker has been in a group plan for a full year."
I have been told that, while insurance companies must cover you if the gap is less than 64 days, they can still impose the pre-existing condition clauses. Is this true?
A: In limited circumstances and for a limited time, an insurance company could impose a pre-existing condition clause, said Mike Canan, the GrayRobinson lawyer and benefits expert who was consulted for the column.
He reiterated that insurance companies cannot impose any pre-existing condition clauses if you have been covered by a group health insurance plan for at least one year and have not had a gap in coverage of more than 63 days.
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However, if you have been in a group health insurance plan for less than a year when you change plans, your new plan could impose a pre-existing condition clause — but not for long.
Once you have had insurance coverage for a full year, including the time you were covered under the old plan, any pre-existing clauses would have to be removed, Canan said.
Separate vacations
Most couples want to take their vacations together, but working couples don't always get what they want.
In fact, more than two out of five workers report having traveled on vacation separately from their spouse or live-in partner, according to a nationwide Harris Poll survey last month of more than 1,700 workers that was sponsored by the online travel company Expedia.
When asked why they had vacationed separately from their live-in mates, 41 percent said it was because they could not get time off at the same time, and 26 percent said it was because they got either more or fewer vacation days than their mate did. Another 10 percent with neither of the above problems said they had been forced into a separated vacation because a work emergency kept them or their partner from going.
The remainder of workers said their separate travel vacations had been by their choice.
In a related survey of more than 2,200 workers, a third said they do not always take all their vacation days, and 23 percent said they check their work e-mail and/or voice mail while on vacation.
Few telecommuters
Although about a quarter of U.S. workers have the option to work from home, only 11 percent do so, according to the University of Maryland's business school and Rockbridge Associates, a marketing research company.
The National Technology Readiness Survey found that only 2 percent of U.S. workers telecommute full time, while another 9 percent telecommute at least one or two days a week.
The study concluded that, if everyone who could took full advantage of telecommuting, the annual fuel-cost savings would add up to $3.9 billion.
"It seems the professional and social environment of the workplace wins out over money and time savings," said Charles Colby, president of Rockbridge Associates.