Birth of a child
When to enroll your child
Enroll your child within 31 days of their birth. Otherwise, you will have to wait until your next open enrollment period; coverage for your child will be effective from the first day of the plan year following open enrollment.
If you add your newborn child to your plan within 31 days of birth, your child's effective date for coverage will be their date of birth. For example, your child is born on Feb. 1, 2012. On Feb. 21, you notify your employer group that you want to add your newborn to your plan. Once HMSA processes the addition of the child to your plan, the effective date for the child will be their date of birth.
Missing the deadline for enrolling your child could cause a gap in coverage
If you don't enroll your child within 31 days of their birth, your child could potentially be without healthcare coverage for months. For example, if your child is born on Feb. 1, 2012 and you notify your employer group on March 21, you have missed the 31-day window for adding your child to your plan. Your next opportunity to add your child will be your employer group's next open enrollment period in October 2012 for an effective date of Jan. 1, 2013. This means you cannot cover your child under your plan until Jan. 1, 2013. This is why it is so important to add your child within the 31-day window.
Different instructions apply for adding a newborn to HMSA's Plan for Federal Employees.
Employer-sponsored group plans
You must notify your employer to add a new dependent child to your HMSA health plan.
Individual plans
Requests must be made in writing and sent to HMSA at the following address or fax number:
HMSA Membership Service Department
PO Box 860
Honolulu, HI 96808-0860
Fax: (808) 948-6614 on Oahu
The request must include:
- The child's name.
- The child's date of birth.
- A copy of the certificate of live birth from the hospital or a birth certificate.
- For individual HMO plans, you must also select an HMO health center and primary care provider (PCP) for the child and list the information in your request.
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