Short Term Disability

The short term disability with my company had a 6 month waiting period for pregnancy. I know I could not receive it for pregnancy unless I became pregnant 6 months after I signed up. Hope that makes sense.

... I feel like my enrollment had to be 6 months b-4 pregnancy.

Short-term disability for pregnancy is not always necessary. If yours is a job where you accrue sick leave and vacation leave, you may not need this additional coverage. When I was on maternity leave, my first six weeks off were covered under my accrued sick leave. Under law, they must hold your position open for you to return to for 12 weeks (or offer a comparable position at equal pay.)

These additional coverages are invaluable for the people who need them, but check first to be certain that your employer and the legal system don't already have your back. Read your employee manual (if you have one. If not, speak to someone in Human Resources.) You may also want to ask a couple of co-workers who've undergone the maternity leave process what worked for them and not. If you are good at research, look into the Family and Medical Leave Act. Perhaps you may even want a consultation with an EEOC lawyer.

Good luck.

I have to say the same thing as the overs. They most likely will deny any coverage for this pregnancy. It's pre-existing. It would be like not having health insurance, finding out you have cancer, then getting health insurance - that condition would be denined. Insurance is a business. They don't want you just paying for a few months, then collecging big. Now, if you had gotten the insurance before, and then a month later you were in an accident and needed to use it, then that would be another thing.

My guess would be tha tyou can get coverage, but that pregnancy related issues,including delivery recovery, might not be covered. YOu never though - the 6-8 weeks might not be covered, but bedrest might be... I don't know. Wither way, I suggest you sign up. If you get sick or injured even after the baby is born, it would be nice ot have the coverage, especially if you have to maintain child care costs.

I worked in insurance for many years. Your situation is exactly why it is a good idea to sign up for short-term & long-term disability & life insurance when first starting any job. Nobody plans to be injured or die, but unfortunately it happens from time to time. After your initial hire, those coverages are all subject to "evidence of insurability." So, you may be able to pick up the coverage now, but it is likely the pregnancy will be considered a "pre-existing condition" and not be covered. I would still recommend buying the coverages now if you are healthy so they will be in place should you become ill or injured. Good luck to you.

most plans you would have had to hold the coverage for a certain amount of time...6 months in some cases before the incident or pregnancy for it to be eligable. they do that to prevent excatly what you are trying to use it for. they dont want you to sign up knowing that it is about to be used. i would say it is highly likly that they will approve your coverage but this pregnancy will be excluded from benefits since it is "pre-exsisting".

I had a two friends in the same situation and they were NOT covered with insurance, even though they opted in after she know she was pregnant. There is typically a waiting period, and pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition. It definitely makes it hard for those unplanned babies, but it is the way the system works. You could always try to contact your local health department, they should be able to help. And hopefully your company can be flexible with time off afterwards, maybe they will let you work from home and you save every hour of leave you get/have. Good luck...this is a difficult topic, and I hope this all works out for you!

I think this may be a pretty common policy. The same thing happened to me at my job. You can only sign up for short term disability when you are hired. It is not an option thereafter at least where I work. Every several years they will have a "special" open enrollment where you can sign up for it, but I don't know if that is the case everywhere. You should talk to HR and find out what your benefits are for maternity leave. Don't rely just on your company HR though. Research the state laws so you know your rights!

Let me preface my comment by stating that I know my situation is not common and also not something to worry about.

I thankfully had STD and LTD coverage through my employer. After my son turned 7 months old I developed a extremely rare complication of pregnancy and have lost eye sight in my left eye. I have not been able to work and probably will not be able to return to work in the future. I don't know what I would have done without the coverage. They have allowed us to continue to nearly keep our standard of living when I was working. They are also helping me apply for Social Security Disability.

I would ask yourself how much the monthly/bi-monthly payments are. And are they enough of a guarantee that if something did happen what would you do without your income.

I didn't really appreciate disability before this happened and now I am so thankful that I have had it.

Although it is true that no one PLANS to get injured and only some PLAN a pregnancy, it is extremely common for any condition that you already have (prior to enrollment) can and often is not covered under most health care and/or short and long term disability plans. These are all types of insurance so if you want them when you need them you should sign up immediately.

Even if you didn't know you were pregnant upon enrollment but the date of conception is calculated prior to enrollment it is often not covered. Usually you can still enroll but that particular condition is not covered. You should still be able to sign up but this pregnancy would be excluded.

You will still qualify for FMLA leave (depending on your employer's size) which entitles you to up to 12 weeks off and still have your job when you return. Ask your Human Resource Department. It does not entitle you to pay during that time but most will allow you to use vacation and sick time to help fill the gap. Some will even pay you anyway for six weeks...as a benefit (this situation is RARE).

You MAY be eligible for six weeks of unemployment (I heard this once but do not know if it is accurate or still current if it was accurate at the time). Of course that would also vary by state too.

The chances that you will be denied are VERY high. Short term disability is typically a low cost insurance (maybe only a few dollars a month) and most require a 6 month to 1 year period before they will kick in. They deliberately do this to avoid persons such as yourself being able to opt into the program and collect benefits before really paying into the plan. Insurance is just that... insurance. You buy it in hopes that you will never use it, but when you do, it is there. You have to think of it like a car... you don't plan on getting in an accident, but when you do, aren't you glad you have coverage. And the auto insurance company is certainly not going to insure you AFTER the accident and cover the damage. Same philosophy.

Good luck... I hope I am wrong.

first off, what type of short term disability are we talking about and what was the cause... accident,on the job, act of god etc. if it was an accident on the job, there is workmens comp. if it was an accident due to someone elses mistake, there is the court system, if you were hurt while in the service, you can go to any military hospital, with your service record, and get medical attention for free.or, you can try to get medicaid coverage, if you qualify,medicaid could cover your medical bills and they give preference to pregnant women.. number is right in the phone book. dont wait to hear back from the insurance company, because alot of these insurance
companies are waiting to see how obama is going to "FIX"
them..if you are pregnant, you need access to medical
now, not whenever cigna or whoever, gets around to it
K. h.

Ok. Sign up for the coverage now. They will most likely deny covering your pregnancy, but at least you will be able to add your child as a dependent once he/she arrives. Next, you need to check with March of Dimes and Planned Parenthood and possibly local Social Services to see if you can get some help with pre-natal care and find services who will help with delivery. Your other problems will be with being on leave without pay for 6-12 weeks after birth, and then finding childcare for when you go back to work. Ask the babys father for help. If he's not inclined to help, you might have to wait for the baby to be born before you can have a paternity test so you can get child support from him.

It is highly probably they will deny your coverage. My HR company and I went back an forth about this and they did provide me with the with what they called industry standard and my company's standard,- STD is an optional coverage and the insurance company "looks back" 90 days prior to enrollment date and will not cover anything within that time frame in other words, I would have had to enroll atleast 91 days prior to getting pregnant, having an accident or any occurrence in which I might eventullay need STD coverage for. Therefore I enrolled a whole year and half before I actually got pregnant. which I was glad because my company doesn't provide paid maternity leave. Also other stimpulation applied such as I had to exhaust any paid leave I had accrued before benefits would kick in, I also had to wait 2 weeks after the occurrence in this case birth of my son, to receive my first payment. and I would only receive payments for 8 weeks for a normal vaginal birth, 10wks for a c-section and you can only use it a max of 13 weeks. You might be able to search for a company that will let you enroll now and cover you while you are out, but the premiums may be higher than tha coverage offered by your job. I would call Cigna and ask first before do anything. they may be able to offer you something. GOOD LUCK and Congratulations on your baby!

It is very common that it would be denied. You are only choosing it because you need it. Insurance companies want you to always have it so it is there when you need it. The likelihood is that they would deny it. Sorry