§4317 Health Plans

Summary

Employers must let a worker who leaves a job to serve in the uniformed services keep their employer health coverage. The worker can keep coverage for up to 24 months from the start of the absence, or until the day after they fail to apply for or return to the job under the rules for reemployment. While on leave, the worker may be charged up to 102% of the full premium for that coverage, except if the service is less than 31 days the worker pays no more than the normal employee share. For plans run by more than one employer, the plan sponsor decides who pays the costs; if the sponsor does not decide, the last employer before service pays, or the plan pays if that employer no longer exists. When the person returns to work, the health plan cannot add waiting periods or exclude coverage that would not have applied if the coverage had never been ended for service. That rule also covers family members who get coverage because the worker’s coverage is put back in place. An exception allows denial for illnesses or injuries the Secretary of Veterans Affairs finds were caused or made worse by the service. If someone became eligible for military medical care because of an order to active duty but the order was canceled before duty began, they get the same reinstatement protections when their military eligibility ends. Definitions: health plan — employer or group health insurance; multiemployer plan — a health plan run by more than one employer or union.