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Clbrink

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
44
Reason
CALS
Diagnosis
11/2003
Country
CA
State
Ontario
City
Burlington
I was hoping that maybe somebody out there could tell me what my rights and or options are on the following problem that we are having.

5 years ago, my husband was diagnosed with ALS, the doctors, at that time, gave him 2 years maximum as they said he was progressing rapidly. He immediately informed his employer and stopped working.
Through his work he had a group insurance policy that covered LTD, life and (Canada) extended health care and dental.

Yesterday I went to the dentist for a root canal, only to have the work done and find out that the insurance was terminated! I got home and made a few calls...

It turns out that the company that my husband worked for was acquired by a Texas based company. The human resource manager kept saying that they were unionized now, that the policy ended and notices were sent out.

I am persistent... We never received such a notice, today I emailed the president, (original owner of the company) vice president (owner's brother) and the HR manager. I finally got the response that they will give us notice and we have 3 months of coverage left.

The company is still run under the original name, same employees... But as I was informed "unionized"... What does this mean? Can they do this, just cut the coverage? The insurance company by law is required to carry the LTD and life. We are loosing the extended health and dental, and there is no insurance company that will cover this now pre-existing condition.

Are there laws (labour or insurance), in Ontario, which give people the chance to continue or guarantee continued employer-sponsored medical insurance coverage when a person experiences a "qualifying event"?

Isn't life and health insurance supposed to help people to protect themselves and their families against the financial risks of premature death, illness and retirement?

Are they not obligated to transfer my husbands benefits equally as their employees?

AND If so Does this not apply?

Where there is a sale of a business, the purchaser can inherit a wide variety of employment-related liabilities and obligations from the vendor. These can include: termination costs, employment standards violations, workers compensation costs, pay equity adjustments, collective agreements, and union bargaining rights. Accordingly, any purchaser of a business in Canada should undertake careful due diligence to ensure that it knows what liabilities it could be acquiring. A purchaser may also have options for structuring the transaction to reduce the liabilities it will be inheriting, or it may obtain appropriate indemnities from the vendor.


Any suggestions in this matter would be greatly appreciated!

I will pursue this, I do not believe this should happen to anybody else.

I have called the MPP (Joyce Savoline) and I have a call into the ontario insurance Ombudsman. Monday I will call again, and Tuesday and the next day! For as long as I have to!

Thank you!
 
Tina,

I'm so sorry y'all are having to go through this! I have no answers, as I am not familiar with Canadian law.

I think you have done the right thing in contacting the Ombudsman.

It does seem odd that you had no insurance and now, after you contacted them, you have 3 months of it left.

I hope you will let us know how this plays out. It will be helpful for others in your situation in Canada.
 
Hi Clbrink. I would suggest you give Suzanne Clancy a call at ALS Ont. She advocates for a lot of PALS and might have some advice. You can email her or get her number at www.alsont.ca

AL.
 
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Try to help

Unionized means that the employees has a union representing them now. They are a basic meadiator for the employees to the company. If you can find out who the Union is and there name. Maybe from someone that your husband worked with. Then I would try to call them and speak to the union Rep. or pres. They may be able to help you in this matter. Your husband may have to join the union even though he is not working. What a Union does is just look out for the employees so they do not get to screwed over in the long run. I hope this helps you out.

Amy
 
Thank you,

I will be calling suzanne first thing Monday morning. I will keep you posted as to how things are working out. If anything comes of this, hopefully this will never happen to anybody else.

As we all have come to learn... Besides the battles we have with ALS alone, there seems to be so many outside battles that are so unecessary!

Thank you again
Christina
 
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