Can an insurance company refuse to insurean infantthat is named on a policy it issued,if there in another policy for the family still in effect?
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Can an insurance company refuse to insurean infantthat is named on a policy it issued,if there in another policy for the family still in effect?
My son was born 7 months ago. During this time we were covered by 2 insurance policies because of a job switch. We were not aware that both policies were in effect as we thought the first policy was to be canceled the date the second policy went into effect. We never added our son to the first policy because we thought it was canceled and only added him to the second policy. Now, the second company will not cover his hospital expenses because they say he should be covered by the first company. The first company will not cover the expenses because we never added him to the policy.
Asked on July 23, 2011 Florida
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Congratulations on the birth of your son and I am so sorry that this wonderful event is marred by this issue. You are going to have to do some research here on this coverage issue in your state. You can start by calling your state Department of Insurance and also considering filing a complaint against both insurance companies at the same time. Here is one of the issues you need to address. I am assuming that when you say "hospital expenses" you mean for his birth, correct? Which insurance company covered you and the pre-natal care? They can not take the stand that if they covered you for these expenses that they did not know that the expenses for a birth were imminent. Also some state laws require automatic coverage for an infant for one month after their birth. So ask this question as well. If your state department of insurance does not get this sorted out for you then you may have to bring a declaratory judgement action as against both companies - suing them both to ask the court to "declare" who covered the baby's expenses at the time of his birth. Good luck.
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