New job enrollment benefit, mark "disabled" if celiac?

[SS7]

Hi everyone,

I recently started a new job and I'm in the process of selecting insurance benefits that are offered by my employer by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. My wife was diagnosed with celiac disease two years ago and is going to be on my insurance plan.

In the benefits enrollment portal that my employer uses, one of the questions asked under my profile and her profile is "Disabled?" with a "yes or no" option and no farther description.

Do you usually mark yes if you are celiac for this question? If you selected no, did you run into any issues with your insurance later on?

I tried searching but couldn't really find any topics about this.

Thank you!

 

 

[Scott Adams]

This is an excellent question, and it also a fairly new development. This is the first I've heard about this question on a work health benefits questionnaire.

I have seen this recently on job applications, and they include it in a list of disabilities. I am inclined to say no on such a question, simply because I don't consider myself disabled from celiac disease. I have it, but am currently not disabled.

I do not see how Blue Shield could decline any health care if you were to answer no on the question, and I am trying to think of any advantage to answering no. If you say yes, then she's likely got this disability due to celiac disease hanging over her should she ever need private health insurance, but I'm not sure how this would affect things, other than it possibly making it more expensive.

I wish I had an easy answer here, and asking your company might not be the best way to go either.

[trents]

We recently had a thread where somebody informed us that having celaic disease is one of the medical conditions that qualify for benefits under the American Disabilities Act or some such government program. I wish I could lay my hands on it but I don't remember what the thread topic was.

[GodsGal]

I was looking at it recently myself. I could be wrong, but my understanding is that while celiac disease is covered under the ADA, it doesn't necessarily mean that the person who has celiac disease is eligible for disability benefits. I don't know if it is the same in every state. In my state I would only be able to get disability benefits if I was physically unable to work. But it does protect from things like workplace discrimination. So, in my state, I have celiac disease, but I am not considered to be disabled.

[trents]

If I recall correctly, the context of the thread I referred to was awarding food prizes at a public school. And the gist of the law was that entities had to provide safe food alternatives for celiacs.

[Scott Adams]

Here is the last article we did on this topic, and it's likely time for us to do a more updated version:

 

[JIsom]

I declared I had celiac when hired because my jobs often required a lot of travel. I am always careful and carried food with me, but I wanted my employers to know I could get sick simply by eating in a restaurant and if I did get sick, it could affect my travel schedule. Flights could be missed, meetings missed etc. They were always understanding but I felt it gave me a measure of protection, just in case. 

[SS7]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the input. Scott I agree with you and I'm hesitant to put her as "disabled" in case it causes future issues with getting new insurance coverage should she need to get private insurance in the future. I think I'm going to answer "No" and if the insurance ever asks more questions in the future then I can give them that information and see what they will do. After all, this is definitely something new and there is literally no information about this anywhere that I could find.

Just some notes for everyone else in case they look up the same thing in the future.

This is about:

• Someone that has already got the job and that they are at a point of signing up for the insurance plans that the employer is offering.
  • In this particular case, I am not Celiac, but my wife who is going to be on my insurance plan is.

This is not about:

• Someone looking for disability benefits through unemployment or benefits in general for not being able to work due to Celiac disease.
• Someone applying for a job and the job application asking if you have any disability,
  • In a few cases during my job application process, I did see Celiac listed as a disability in the application.

Hope to see more feedback on this. I will try my best to report back with an update in case the insurance does flag something in the future.

[Wheatwacked]

Is she on disability? If not, I think she is no more disabled than someone with other allergies, bee stings for example. 

[SS7]

  On 3/17/2023 at 5:04 AM, Wheatwacked said:

Is she on disability? If not, I think she is no more disabled than someone with other allergies, bee stings for example. 

Expand Quote  

She is not and I agree.

[DonnaNM]

I have Celiac disease and follow your forums. 

I don't want to talk out of place so if this does not meet this websites guidelines, please delete. 

The ADA is a federal civil rights law that prevents discrimination against people with disabilities. There is more, but please visit their site for more info. 

One case happened in 2012 that specifically addressed Celiac disease and food service at Lesley University in Massachusetts. The link is: https://archive.ada.gov/q&a_lesley_university.htm. it is interesting.  

Personal opinion: I would also be careful listing a spouse as having a disability.  There may be too many unknown unintended consequences.  

All my best. 

[trents]

  On 3/22/2023 at 3:12 PM, DonnaNM said:

I have Celiac disease and follow your forums. 

I don't want to talk out of place so if this does not meet this websites guidelines, please delete. 

The ADA is a federal civil rights law that prevents discrimination against people with disabilities. There is more, but please visit their site for more info. 

One case happened in 2012 that specifically addressed Celiac disease and food service at Lesley University in Massachusetts. The link is: https://archive.ada.gov/q&a_lesley_university.htm. it is interesting.  

Personal opinion: I would also be careful listing a spouse as having a disability.  There may be too many unknown unintended consequences.  

All my best. 

Expand Quote  

Good read, DonnaNM. Thanks!

[Nicole4]

Did you end up marking her? I am a few months away from my jobs annual look at insurance and benefits to make any changes and now I’m wondering if it’s going to ask about health as I have Blue Cross as well. My son was diagnosed with celiac, scoliosis and Gilbert’s since I signed last year.

[SS7]

Hi @Nicole4,

I ended up not marking her due to the replies here and my own research.

• I tried looking everywhere for information related to this on government websites or insurance websites and wasn't able to find anything solid.
• I even called a third party insurance agent and they didn't know the answer. What they said was similar to what "Wheatwacked" said earlier, that if she's not collecting disability, then she is not considered disabled by the insurance.
• Based on the lack of information out there and it being a fairly new thing (in the law system), I decided to put that burden of finding out on the insurance company for now.

So far she hasn't had any doctor visits other than the regular checkup but I will due my best to update back here if insurance does flag anything.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful, best of luck to you!