Odorizzi v. Otsego N. Catskills Bd. of Coop. Educ. Servs

In Odorizzi v. Otsego N. Catskills Bd. of Coop. Educ. Servs., 307 AD2d 490 [Third Dept 2003] the employee - Mrs. Odorizzi - had elected family coverage during her active employment to provide health coverage for her husband. Upon retirement, Mrs. Odorizzi switched from family coverage to individual coverage because her husband had obtained health insurance coverage through his own employer. Years later, when her husband also retired, Mrs. Odorizzi sought to return to family coverage to include her husband. The district rejected Mrs. Odorizzi's request on the grounds that the self-funded health plan ("Plan") did not permit a former employee to change their enrollment after retirement. The Third Department agreed and found that Mrs. Odorizzi had no right to change her coverage. However, the Third Department's determination was expressly based upon the Plan's language that differentiated between employee coverage and retiree coverage and limited certain enrollment changes to "employees" only.