Question: My company pays for half of my premium and I pay the other half along with full coverage for my three year old daughter...the deduction for my health insurance had increased...I told my employer that I would like to opt out of the company policy and purchase individual insurance, because I could get a better policy at a cheaper rate and they advised me that I cannot cancel my insurance until open enrollment in November. I was never advised that my premiums were increasing, there was not a meeting, email, nothing letting me know. Can my employer force me to stay on their company plan until November?

Answer: Yes. Apparently your employer did a lousy job of communicating the increase in your health insurance contribution back in November when you could have opted out. Employees should have the option to decline medical coverage or to purchase individual health insurance as long as their decision does not affect the medical rates of those remaining in the plan. Opt-Out provision are restricted to open-enrollment periods because it was determined that about 20 percent of a plan's participants generate 80 percent of the claimed costs in any given year. In most cases, those who opt out of a medical plan are the healthier population; employees expecting high expenses prefer the extra coverage. Since employees with more medical needs tend to stay in the plan, when employees opt out there are fewer premium dollars coming into the plan, but claim and administrative costs do not go down in the same proportion. This results in higher premiums for those remaining in the plan. That's why restrictions are in place for right to opt out.