To join a group health plan you must first be eligible for the plan. For example, though an employer may have a group health plan, it does not have to be open to everyone, perhaps being designed for full-time and not part-time workers. In addition, the plan may be operated by an HMO and you could find that you are living outside of the service area for the HMO.

Assuming that you are eligible to participate in the plan then you have to be permitted to join regardless of your state of health. For this purpose your state of health means your present health, including any disability that you may have, and to your prior medical history. It is also interesting to note that you may not be excluded as a result of genetic information.

It is important to understand here that, in spite of the fact that an employer is allowed to refuse you membership because you do not for example work sufficient hours, he is not permitted to exclude you based solely on your current or prior medical history.

Most plans has an enrollment period during which you must elect to join the scheme which might typically be within about 30 days or joining the company. However, if you choose not to enroll at this stage then an employer is required to give you an opportunity to join during what is usually called a special enrollment period if particular changes arise within your family. These changes might include things like marriage, the adoption of a child and the loss of other medical insurance coverage because of things like the cessation of coverage being provided through another family member as a result of death, divorce, retirement, legal separation, termination, reduction in working hours and similar things.

Almost all plans also normally have a waiting period for membership that will typically be anything from 30 days to about 3 months. This waiting period must be applied consistently for all employees and during this time an employee will not be covered under the group plan.

Where the group plan that you are joining is being run by an HMO then the HMO can also apply a waiting period (generally called an affiliation period) where you will once again not be covered. HMO affiliation periods may not normally be more than 2 months and where a waiting period is applied the HMO may not then impose any pre-existing conditions exclusions.

Under the provisions of Florida law any group health plan that includes dependent cover also has to provide cover automatically for newborn babies, newly adopted children and children who are placed for adoption for 31 days from birth, adoption or placement. The can also require parents to register these children during this 31 day period for cover to continue beyond this point.

For parents taking care of disabled children who are covered under a group plan cover will usually continue beyond the age when a child would no longer be considered as a dependent, provided the parents can demonstrate that the individual in question cannot support himself (or herself) as a result of physical or mental disability and that they are chiefly dependent upon the plan member for support.

If you are employed by an employer with at least 50 employees then you are permitted to take a leave of absence without loss of health insurance for up to 12 weeks in certain circumstances. This protection is guaranteed by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to cover things like the birth of a child, sickness or the need to care for a seriously ill family member.

Federal law allows states down to local government level to exempt government employees from some areas of coverage in self-insured group plans and many Forida's public employers take advantage of this to a degree. As exemptions vary widely from one employer to the next it is a good idea to find out the exact coverage provided if you are a public employee. This information may also be found by contacting The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) which maintains a list of employer exemptions.

Though under Florida law you may not be refused membership of a group health plan on the basis of health, there are various circumstances in which plans are allowed to impose exclusion periods for pre-existing conditions. This is however a complicated topic and one that is therefore the subject of a further article.