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I received an e-mail from our HR Department the other day informing us that they may change our medical insurance carrier on June 1st. For context, our company has approximately 50 employees and is located in the US, so employer medical insurance is a benefit.

Due to the size of the company, I am able to have the ear of upper management very easily and I would like to discuss this issue with them, but would like to ensure I've addressed all the issues in one go. Ideally, I'd like to ensure that I get a response that addresses each issue in some manner. So far, I've identified the following concerns:

• My current insurance has a deductible of at least $1,000 that I've already met. If the carrier changes, I'm assuming that I'll need to start anew on that deductible.


• I am concerned that I will have to change doctors.


• A mid-year change like this is unprecedented for me. Every other company I've worked for has had their insurance renew at the beginning of the year, presumably to avoid this kind of issue.

Are there other major issues that I should be raising? I am not seeking a list of everything that could happen, just issues that would be universal to all employees impacted by this.

From a comment you made

I've been here for a little over a year now.

and from your question:

A mid-year change like this is unprecedented for me. Every other
company I've worked for has had their insurance renew at the beginning
of the year, presumably to avoid this kind of issue.

Changing in the middle of the calendar year is not a problem if the company has always been running their insurance year as different than the calendar year.

I have worked with several companies that operated this way. Changing policies/companies mid-calendar year wasn't a problem with deductibles, because you still had/have 12 months to reach the deductibles.

Changing doctors is always a concern when you change insurance policies, even if the change takes place at the end of the calendar year.

The biggest issues with mid-calendar year changes has been related to federal laws. If the US government changes the rules for a flexible spending account, or a HSA, then there can be confusion regarding how those laws are phased in to a plan that doesn't start on January 1st.

Now if this isn't normal for the company, then most of the employees should be upset. The impact on deductibles and out-of-pocket limits should make everybody concerned. There can also me confusion of expiration of funds for the Flexible spending account.

Those are all valid questions to ask, however you may not like the answers. Regarding the deductible, it is basically reset with a new insurance. The same applies to the list of plan approved doctors. Just remember that in the US your company can legally change insurance plans whenever it wants, even in the middle of the year. It is not something typical ( in the middle of the year ) but it can and does happen.

Presumably, management would have the same concerns that you have as they are likely enrolled under the same insurance company. Obviously they have a reason for considering switching insurance companies ( usually it is monetary) and If they haven't already considered the points that you have brought up and depend on you to make the argument against switching mid-year then there is a huge management problem at your company.