Switching insurance after baby

[rbell123]

Cant seem to find a straightforward answer on this and no customer service number for OPM.
Say I am on BCBS currently, and will be having a baby in February. At that point, can I switch to GEHA for my family?
I know that's a qualifying life event to make changes but I have read conflicting things as to if they means I can switch to an entirely new insurance, or can just add on the baby to my current insurance plan. Anyone have any experience doing that? Need to be sure as the plan i am currently on I pay up the butt and want to make sure I can change after baby comes.

 

[PooseMaGoose]

Cant seem to find a straightforward answer on this and no customer service number for OPM.
Say I am on BCBS currently, and will be having a baby in February. At that point, can I switch to GEHA for my family?
I know that's a qualifying life event to make changes but I have read conflicting things as to if they means I can switch to an entirely new insurance, or can just add on the baby to my current insurance plan. Anyone have any experience doing that? Need to be sure as the plan i am currently on I pay up the butt and want to make sure I can change after baby comes.

It’s a special enrollment period so you would be able to change your enrollment to a different plan entirely if that’s your wish. I believe the window is 60 days from the birth but I would do it ASAP.

Is something preventing you from just switching now during open enrollment? Your new plan would go active Jan 12, 2025 so it would be in place so you can focus on your new baby and not have to deal with this later.

Congrats!

 

[32andBelow]

you can change inside of employee express if you can do it during the pay period the kid is born. As soon as it’s the next pay period you have to do it manually and it’s a pain.

 

[RalphBeast]

Does your deductible/oops max reset if you change?

 

[+TSRA]

You call/talk to these folks:

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ahr/contact_us

Further information:

I've acquired a new family member

When you have a change in family status, including a change in marital status, you may enroll, change from Self Only to Self and Family, or change from one plan or option to another.

www.opm.gov

 

[chaos]

We didn't pay a dime out of pocket when we had our kid with GEHA so you could always switch now... The plans might've changed so I'd take a look beforehand.

 

[SquawkHijack]

You should be able to change to any plan or carrier you wish. One thing to note, because my son was just born last month and I did this.

Make absolutely sure you not only add your new baby but re-add your spouse! You would assume they’re already on there from your current self plus one enrollment but I can promise you they don’t autonomously carry over to any self plus family selection for this life event. My wife was temporarily uninsured until we figured out what happened and they have absolutely no problem flooding bills your way until it gets sorted out.