1 year waiting period for health insurance? I call BS right there. Even in a small company, the longest you'll wait is a couple of months. I was surprised when I first started here that I couldn't get coverage until the first day after my first complete month. My first day was September 5th, so I couldn't get coverage until November 1st, but even that wasn't horrible. Sounds like the DUmmie was unemployed for quite some time and HIPPA rules in effect meant the employer couldn't or wasn't required to provide for the period of unemployment for a pre-existing condition.