Did any of you know that J.B. Harris once worked at United Auto?
I didn't, but according to this 11th Circuit opinion his tenure as in-house counsel was apparently pretty brief.
Once he stopped working there, he continued to maintain his own health insurance coverage through COBRA -- which if I'm not mistaken is an early, more euphemistic government variant to the Obama Death Panels.
But then his wife and a possible "part-time" mailman entered the picture:
Harris asserts that his wife placed the payment in the mailbox on February 11, 2008, but the envelope containing the payment was not post-marked until February 12. According to the complaint, Harris’s wifeAin't health care fun in America?either inadvertently [placed the check in the mailbox] after the mail carrier had made his rounds. Or the envelope was picked up that day and post-marked a day later – February 12, 2008 – a real possibility in some areas of South Carolina – like where Mrs. HARRIS lives – because the postal service often employs part-time mail carriers, who use their own vehicles to deliver the mail, and the mail could have gotten delayed, misplaced or even left in the carrier’s car overnight, before making its way to the post office the next day to be postmarked.Because the envelope was not received within the time period for payment and was postmarked one day after the end of the grace period, Ceridian terminated Harris’s COBRA coverage. Harris attempted to resolve this with UAIG and Ceridian, but they refused to reinstate his coverage.
BTW, I'm pretty sure I recognize that mailman -- not only did he deliver the mail to Mrs. Harris, but I'm pretty sure he also delivered the mail to Chevy Chase in Funny Farm.
See, I knew it would some day pay off to rewatch those subpar 80s comedies over and over and over again.
10 comments:
FIRST!! And at 4:26 ref the discussion in the previous thread I feel very safe calling the shumie. Go home everyone!!! (or to the gym).
SECOND! Gone baby gone.
What about the smack down in the brief that Harris (although a lawyer) is proceeding pro se, and therefore is brief is being read liberally. OUCHIE
Classic link to Funny Farm mailman. Classic.
"The trick is, you have to clip 'em off way up high."
Olbermann did a great spot on United Healthcare last night. I've had my own dealings with them. Did you know that they put their office in charge of healthcare continuation in one of the few places in the country you can't get guaranteed next day delivery?
Aren't they just lovely people?
Those COBRA people don't fugg around. You have to pay the entire premium by the due date with no exception. I once had a former employee whose premium was $837.48 who sent in a check for $837.00 and got bounced from the program. Their policy is bright line with the reasoning if we cut you a break for $.48 do we cut the next guy a break for $3.00 etc. Moral of the story, buy Samantha's Home Security System, I did.
As an HR and Risk Management guy, I got a chuckle out of your COBRA joke, even if nobody else did.
Very funny, I have to admit. Too bad Chevy Chase has faded into obscurity. Too bad for me the mailbox rule didn't apply. No real reason to continue this thread except to say I found a very obscure provision in the tax code that in some instances gives covered employees the same time to pay their COBRA premiums as a company has to fund its plan (26 C.F.R. § 54.4980 B-8), contrary to the usual draconian boilerplate contained plan documents that says a covered employee will be terminated if his or her premium is a day late or 1 cent short, as happened in my case. Some companies fund their plans once a quarter, or even once a year. Worth reading the opinion, since a court had never previously interpreted that section of the code. And if you ever find yourself on COBRA, as many Americans are these days, you need to know your rights. That's why I proceeded pro se. Wouldn't have trusted my family's case to anyone else.
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