Paychex Inc, Cobra Insurance
Health Insurance Mistakes and Rip Off

I quit my job 11/30 and the health insurance from my new job doesn't begin until my probationary period is over so I decided to enroll in the Cobra insurance my previous employer offered through Paychex Cobra. effective 12/1

I received my paperwork from Paychex and they had my adult daughter listed who is 26 and no longer covered under my insurance (since 6/30). I called Paychex to verify that the insurance premium amounts did not include the daughter that was ineligible and they told they made a mistake and would take the ineligible daughter off the enrollment form and send me new forms to fill out. At this time they also told me my premiums would be lower so I should wait until I received the new enrollment forms.

I received the new forms, filled them out and sent in the forms together with my initial payment. 2 weeks later Paychex had cashed my check but sent me a letter saying they never received my forms. This could not have been true since the enrollment forms and the initial payment were in the SAME envelope. Luckily I made copies of everything and resent in all the forms.

As a result my paperwork wasn't sent to the insurance companies and any doctor or dentist appointments or prescriptions weren't being honored by the insurance companies (I still have 3 prescriptions that I was never reimbursed for).

They finally received my forms and sent my enrollment info to the insurance companies. Everything was going along fine until I received a phone call at the beginning of April asking if I had received the notice in the mail stating that Paychex was terminating my coverage as of March 31 due to nonpayment.

Apparently they made a mistake in my premium amounts so they were back charging me for 4 months of additional premium payments. Even though it was their mistake they were billing me an additional $1209.52 AND terminatinf my coverage with NO NOTICE. This phone call was the first I heard about this - I was in a panic!

The letter they sent was dated 3/27 and they gave me until 3/29 to pay the additional premium amount. I didn't even receive the letter in the mail until after they called me at the beginning of April. What a rip off.

2 days later I finally called them back as I had not heard back from them and found out that I wasn't actually being terminated (another mistake by paychex), my account was just being put "on hold" until they received payment.

I immediately sent in a payment to continue coverage but I did not send in the full back payment amount as I was hoping Paychex would work with me since this was their mistake. I also immediately cancelled my vision and dental coverage as I could not afford it anymore and just sent in my medical insurance payment.

Unfortunately Paychex would not own up to their mistake and I am now sending in the full amount for the additional premiums since it's illegal to not have medical coverage.

Thanks a lot Paychex! I have also contacted my former employer to make sure they know what a mess this has been. Hopefully no one else will have to go through what I have gone through!

Karla Ostlund

Company: Paychex Inc, Cobra Insurance
Country: USA
State: Illinois
City: Chicago
ZIP: 60673
Address: 25151 Network Place
Phone: 8004720072

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