Healthcare Coverage
Confirm when current coverage ends and when new coverage begins. If there is a gap, the household needs a plan for that period.
Changes at Work
Changing Jobs
A new job can change more than your paycheck. Health coverage, protection benefits, and household needs may all be affected.
What's changing
Here's what typically shifts.
Leaving an employer changes more than a paycheck. Healthcare, life and disability coverage, retirement benefits, and other workplace protections are usually tied to employment, and each can end, continue, or convert on its own timeline. New-hire benefits may also work differently from the ones you had.
What to consider
Questions worth asking.
Coverage Gaps
A start date and an effective date are not always the same. Waiting periods are set by the plan, so verify them with your new employer.
Life & Disability Coverage
Employer-sponsored life and disability coverage often ends with employment. Ask whether portability or conversion options exist and by when they must be exercised.
Retirement Benefits
Consider what decisions may be needed regarding retirement benefits left with a former employer.
Dependents
Anyone covered under the plan that's ending needs a coverage destination — and dependents may need to be re-elected under the new plan.
Medicare Considerations
If you or a spouse are Medicare eligible or approaching eligibility, a change in employer coverage may affect timing. Confirm details on Medicare.gov.
Benefits you may already have
Start with what already exists.
Personal insurance is not always the first answer. Start with the benefits already available to you.
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage through the current or new employer.
- Employer-paid or voluntary life and disability coverage.
- Continuation options that may be available when coverage ends.
- New-hire benefit elections, which may cover the need without personal insurance.
- A spouse's or partner's workplace plan.
- Existing personal insurance already in place.
A life change doesn’t always mean you need new insurance.
Household considerations
Who else could this change affect?
A job change is rarely an individual event. It can affect everyone who depends on those benefits.
- A spouse's plan may be able to cover the household during the transition.
- Dependent coverage may need to be re-elected under a new plan.
- Beneficiary designations often reset when workplace coverage changes.
- A Medicare-eligible household member may face separate timing questions.
Portability & conversion
Before you replace it, can you keep it?
Before replacing a workplace benefit, find out whether you can keep it. Some workplace benefits include continuation, portability, or conversion options — and understanding those first helps identify what actually needs to be replaced or supplemented.
- Employer-sponsored life insurance may include a portability or conversion provision. Ask whether one applies and what the deadline is.
- Voluntary life, critical illness, or accident coverage elected at work may follow similar rules.
- Disability coverage is often tied to employment; confirm whether any portion continues.
- Continuation coverage may apply to health benefits where the plan provides for it.
- New-employer elections may already cover part of the need, so confirm those before replacing anything.
Portability, conversion, and continuation provisions vary. Plan documents, the plan administrator, the employer, and the carrier remain the authoritative sources for what a specific benefit allows and by when.
Relevant solutions
Given what's changing, here's where we can help.
Healthcare
Individual and family medical, dental, and vision options when workplace coverage isn't available or is ending.
Explore HealthcareRetirement
Insurance-based solutions that address income, longevity, and protection needs in retirement.
Explore RetirementLegacy
Life insurance, beneficiary preparedness, financial-account organization, and household benefit continuity.
Explore Legacy
Financial Relationship Manager
You don’t have to work out everything a change affects on your own. A Financial Relationship Manager helps you understand what is changing and what may need attention — so you don't have to figure that out on your own first.
Related life changes
Changes that often arrive together.
- Losing Workplace CoverageExplore continuation and personal coverage options when employer-sponsored benefits end.
- Working Part-Time or SeasonallyExplore personal solutions when you're not eligible for traditional workplace benefits.
- Preparing for RetirementConsider healthcare, retirement income, protection, and legacy before the actual retirement event — while there is still time to act.
Related insights
Go deeper on this.
Research & Data
The Benefit Eligibility Gap: What Happens Beyond Full-Time Employment?
Employer benefits are built around full-time status. Federal data shows how sharply access drops for part-time workers — and why so many households end up buying coverage and protection on their own.
Read InsightGuides & Education
Still Working at 65? What to Consider Before Making a Medicare Decision
Turning 65 while still employed does not automatically mean enrolling in all of Medicare. What matters is the size of your employer, how your coverage works, and whether a Special Enrollment Period will be available later.
Read Insight
Not sure what your job change affects?
Tell us what's changing and we'll help you understand what may need attention — for you and your household.