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can an employer deny health insurance for a spouse if they have insurance in california?

i have insurance and he is on mine, and he has insurance but it is too expensive for both of us. is there a particular law that says my employer cannot force me to use his or force him off mine? also, my employer is sending letters to everyone asking for proof of spouses or dependents and asking for marriage licenses and or tax documentation. is that legal too?

Public Comments

1. Your employer can charge EXTRA for covering your spouse, if he is employed and has coverage AVAILABLE through his employer - even if it's not as good coverage, or costs a lot more. Typically, it's an EXTRA $100 a month or so. Regarding the proof of dependents, it's the INSURER who's requiring the employer to pass along that information - too many people are lying about their dependents.
2. It is rare for an employer to cover insurance costs for both a employee and spouse without requesting a percentage of the cost during annual or subsequent life event enrollment. It is normally cheaper for each employee to obtain insurance from their employer individually rather than as an EE + spouse. For example, my Blue Cross insurance costs $35 per bi-monthly pay period and my husband's costs $75. If we chose just one policy for both of us, the monthly costs would rise to $230 (mine) $362 (his) which is a 10% increase over last year. They are both Blue Cross, but mine covers 90 physical therapy visits and his only 24, otherwise they are identical. Since I need lots of PT and mine was significantly cheaper, we chose to get policies this year from our individual employers. An employer could not deny group insurance to a spouse that had addtl coverage, any denial is up to the insurance company. Denial would typically happen if the enrollment card was signed late, a EOI (evidence of insurability) was needed and a medical problem precluded coverage. A company cannot force you to use his policy or take him off yours. The action of needing a marriage license seems rather offensive though. Are they having issues with imaginary spouses? If you have any questions call your HR or benefit specialist and the customer service line at each insurance company for clarification.
3. Its absolutely legal to ask for documentation of dependents - I work for a firm that conducts dependent audits for large companies. In fact, employer interest in doing such audits is skyrocketing because of the cost savings involved (for a large corporation, they can save millions in weeding out ineligible dependents). The Wall Street Journal just featured a story this month about dependent audits - you can view that article here: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118946144721423027.html You wouldn't believe the crazy situations we've uncovered during an audit. People claiming their neighbor's children on their benefits, people claiming boyfriends/girlfriends as spouses, etc. There's definitely a reason why so many employers are looking twice!