Potential insurance issue at work

ewenner

My DH recently lost his job and so I will be adding him to my health insurance policy through work.  I got the paperwork today from HR, and basically I have to fill out a whole new application for both of us to update the policy.  My concern is that one of the questions asked is whether anyone to be covered on the policy is pregnant.  Of course I don't want to lie on the application, but I am also not ready to tell anyone at work about the pregnancy (I'm only 7 weeks).  How do you think I should handle this?  Do I need to say something to HR?  Should I just fill out the application and hope they don't really look at it?  This is totally stressing me out right now, so I appreciate any advice.  Thank you!

NeonNoon

Does your H have coverage for a grace period from his last employer?  If so, you could wait until the last minute to switch over.

If it were me, I would probably just write down the truth on the form.  Your insurance company knows already because you had your first appointment confirming the pregnancy.  I would not want any confusion with the paperwork.

I'm not sure what private health info HR is privy to - sorry.  I would probably not say anything beyond the form until I wanted to.  But it's better to be prepared mentally in case the news spreads.

niknak1208

I work in HR.  I would definitely mark yes on the form and be truthful.  HR cannot go around telling anyone your personal health information so I wouldn't worry about that. Usually, the only person in HR who even sees those forms is the person who handles that area of benefits.  I work for a very large hospital .. on the benefits team in the HR dept. and even I don't see that stuff because I don't work directly with benefit enrollment.  There's only a couple of people who do in my dept.  

mindaa

I work in HR too - niknak said it very well. Even if you worked in a very small organization where the HR person interacted regularly with your colleagues/boss, they can't exactly reveal that personal information. (as much as they might want out of excitement for you! )

On a side, our FMLA coordinator doesn't even want to talk anyone about maternity leave in the first two months (or six), it's way to early to plan. So it would be unlikely that even if your HR coordinator noticed, that they would come hunting you down with FMLA forms. 

ewenner

Thank you all for your advice.  DH's coverage ends on October 31st, so there isn't too much time to delay.  I do work for a small company (about 25 people in the office), and the HR "department" is actually just one guy.  It just makes me so uncomfortable knowing that he might read the forms and "know," even though I haven't said anything and don't plan on saying anything for a while yet.  I will definitely be honest on the forms and just trust that it will be a non-issue (albeit very awkward...)