MedSave.com Expands Service for Former Enron Employees

MedSave.com allocated additional resources to help former employees of Enron Energy obtain emergency cash from retirement accounts and find low cost health insurance.

MedSave.com benefits enrollment service expanded its services for the thousands of Enron employees terminated in December. Effective immediately, MedSave.com eliminated all enrollment fees for former Enron employees doing online enrollments for medical insurance and retirement plan rollover combinations. Those using MedSave's free "OnlineAdviser" service will also find new information on benefits options to supplement the information on the Enron.com benefits Website.

Most of the former Enron employees received a severance payment of $4500 with their last paycheck that covered their bills through January 2002, but many are now facing a financial crunch this month. Tony Novak, principal of MedSave.com says Our priority is handling fast emergency withdrawals from retirement plans and providing low cost temporary medical insurance to ease the immediate cash crisis." Over the longer term MedSave.com provides benefits consulting services for Enrons 401(k) plan rollovers and transition to other benefit plans through its OnlineAdviser" program. Novak points out that most of the assets in the Enron employees 401(k) plans are safe and immediately available, despite news reports that might imply otherwise. Contrary to some news reports, a large portion of the investments in these plans were not invested in Enron stock and were not affected by the collapse. Employees who were participants in non-qualified benefit plans will need to file a claim with the bankruptcy court and then wait until the outcome of the bankruptcy proceeding. Novak warns that each employee should consider his case on an individual basis, since there are no universal financial planning strategies that will work for all former Enron employees. We are prepared to present all of the options Enron offers to these employees, as well as a handful of alternatives through state benefit programs and private companies that may better fit individual circumstances.

MedSave.com is one of the leading providers of short term medical insurance in Texas and provides 401(k) to IRA rollover service through its affilliate freedombenefits.com. The number of benefits inquiries coming from former Enron employees jumped sharply in the past month, triggering a more extensive look at the options available to these individuals.