Making Changes to Your Benefits

Qualifying Life Events (QLE)

A significant event that results in you gaining or losing a family member. You may add or drop qualifying family members from your health insurance plans if you take action within 31 days of the QLE event date. Without a QLE, you must wait for the yearly Open Enrollment period.

Each QLE has its own set of guidelines to qualify you for a special enrollment period. The special enrollment period is 31 days from the event date, which allows you to process a change request and modify your coverage level in your medical, dental, and vision plans, otherwise known as health plans.

Most common QLEs

• Getting married/entering a domestic partnership in the State of California: If you marry or enter into a domestic partnership and you want to add your spouse/partner to your health plans, you have 31 days from the date of marriage/registering of domestic partnership to process a change request adding your new spouse/partner to your health plans.
• Having a baby or adopting a child(ren)^*: If you have added a new child to your family, either through birth, adoption, marriage, or domestic partnership, you can add that child(ren) to your health plans within 31 days of the date of birth, adoption, or marriage/domestic partnership.
• Family arriving in the United States: If your family has entered the US and you want to add them to your health plans, you have 31 days from the entry date to add them.
• Family leaving the United States: If your family permanently leaves the US or is leaving for 3+ months, you have 31 days from the date they leave to drop them from your health plans.
• You/Spouse/Partner/Children gain other coverage: If you or currently enrolled family members gain additional comprehensive coverage, you can drop them from your health plans within 31 days from the effective date of the new insurance.
• You/Spouse/Partner/Child(ren) lose other coverage: If you or your family members lose other coverage, you have 31 days from the first date without coverage to add them to your health plans.

The Cost of Adding Dependents to Your Health Plans

When you add dependents to your health plans, you share the cost of their coverage. We collect dependent premiums through a direct debit to a checking or savings account.

Review Current Rate Sheet

Be prepared to enter your banking information during the enrollment process. You will need to know:

• the name of your bank
• type of account, checking or savings
• routing number
• account number

How Premiums are Billed When You Drop Dependents from Your Health Plans

Billing rules for when you drop dependents or yourself from your health plans:

• If a member or dependent is insured on the 1st of the month, they are insured for the whole month, regardless of when they drop coverage during the month
• There are no pro-rated fees for health insurance; however, if a member or dependent joins the plan on the 16th of the month or later, there is no charge for that month

Your coverage level determines our billing data. Whatever coverage level you have at 8:59 pm ET on the 5th of the month is what we are billed. If you add or drop dependents on or after the 5th of the month, this change will appear on the following month's bills. When adding dependents, we will either retro collect for the previous month if the effective date of coverage is between the 1st and the 15th of the month (no charge if the effective date is after the 16th) or issue credits for the following month's premium payment if you dropped dependents effective the 1st of the previous month. 

^{*You may add other eligible dependents to your health plan when processing a qualifying life event that results from the addition of a new child; however, the other dependent's effective date will be the first of the following month. Only the new child's effective date is the date of birth, adoption, or placement.}