A Florida employee declines her small employer's group health plan because she is insured under her spouse's plan. If her circumstances later change and she wants to join the plan, the usual consequence is:

Why D is correct

Under Chapter 627, Florida Statutes, an employee who declines small employer group coverage is not permanently barred from it, but later enrollment generally depends on the plan's enrollment opportunities and its rules for late entrants, such as qualifying changes in circumstances. The design balances employee choice with orderly group administration, rather than imposing a lifetime lockout or a cost-shifting obligation onto the employer or carrier.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) Declining once does not create a permanent bar; late-enrollment rules exist precisely to let the employee come back.
• B) The employer has no duty to fund an individual policy because an employee declined group coverage.
• C) The carrier owes no free individual policy; re-entry runs through the group plan's enrollment rules.

Memory hook

Waive now, rejoin later through the plan's enrollment door.