Here’s the thing: life has an annoying habit of changing without checking in with your benefits plan. You fall in love, you get married, you get divorced, you bring home a baby—or suddenly that baby grows up, gets a job, and their own insurance. Or maybe, your ex already has them covered under their insurance plan. Every one of those moments matters. A lot.
And look, I know what you’re thinking: “Do I really need to tell the Plan about this?” Yes. Yes, you do. Because your benefits office is not psychic. We don’t have a crystal ball. If we did, we wouldn’t be using it to track your kid’s insurance-we’d be using it to win the lottery and to finally stop coming in the lower third in the weekly football pool. Both. Absolutely both.
Case in point: just last month, we had a classic. A twenty-something got their own insurance. Both parent and child ignore not one, but two letters from the Fund. Not to mention the parent, the member, ignored all the previous correspondence on this exact matter. Result? Claims denied. That’s right – denied.
Which, in industry terms, is the equivalent of skipping the lockout/tagout and then acting surprised when the panel lights up like the Fourth of July…or ignoring a breaker rating and then being shocked – literally and figuratively – when it trips.
As a reminder, employer reports, paystubs, and work journals track hours worked not secrets. They don’t tell us who you love, who you left, or which dependent has health coverage through three different sources. Updating this dull detail now? That’s your fast-track to avoiding chaos – and bills – later.
Think of it like wiring: the smallest connection—or missed connection—can short out the whole system. Forget to update your records after a divorce? Congratulations, your ex might still be your beneficiary. Forget to mention your kid has their own insurance? That could cause coverage conflicts that make tax season look like a picnic.
It’s not complicated. It’s just paperwork that protects the people who matter when it matters most.
So, here’s the deal: life changes? Send a note, drop an email, click online. Save yourself the chaos, keep your kid covered, and make sure your ex doesn’t cash in. Glamorous? No. Cheaper, calmer, and far less dramatic than COBRA or having someone other than your immediate family receive the death benefit or life insurance proceeds? Absolutely.
Lastly, this is the fourth consecutive month this topic has been mentioned in the Funds newsletter – think about that? How bad is it if the Plan has to restate well …, the obvious, over and over?
Therefore, when someone’s claim gets denied—or they’re punted out of the Plan for fraud—please, spare us the collective gasp. You know we’ve covered this in newsletters, plural. We’ve practically carpet-bombed everyone with reminders. And it’s in the SPD written so clearly that even your coworker who thinks “ERISA” is a new energy drink could understand it.
So, if or when that coworker starts whining, moaning, or performing a tragic one-act play about how unfair life is, who do you want to be in that moment? The person who calmly says, “Dude,, the rules were in black and white, you ignored them, and now you’re lying in the world’s lumpiest bed of your own making”? Or the person who nods along because it’s easier than telling the truth? Because let’s be honest—that second option earns you a special place in purgatory, right next to people who clap when a waiter drops a glass, those monsters who microwave fish in the jobsite trailer, and the guy who insists on telling you his CrossFit routine even though you never asked.