Health Ins. Policy ref./Denial of secondary coverage.

My husband lost his job in January of this year due to a massive lay-off. I have a two fold question. I work in the local polie department. One of our benefits is to have our health insurance premium paid at 100%. Our pay per week is not what our premium would cost per month. I know this because after my husband''s job loss, I added both he and my daughter to my health insurance plan. After meeting with human resource, we asked if we could pay for a few months of the premium up front as my husband had received a check in his severance package that included money if he elected to retain cobra coverage for three months. We were told by human resource that we would "absolutely not" without a doubt would not be able to make a payment as payments for health insurance would have to be through payroll deduction. My husband''s last official day of work was January 31 and we were told that if we were to elect coverage through my employer, we had through the end of February to decide. We signed the paperwork on February 28th. I waited in the next two weeks to see a very small payroll check and it wasn''t until March 18th, that I received a notive from human resources that I was to remit a check in the amount of nearly $3000.00 or have the past due and present amoubts for my preiums taken from my check leaving me a grand total of $7.00 in pay per week. We immediately asked that this insurance be cancelled as we felt the terms had been misrepresented and we were just going to opt for a catastrophic type policy until he was able to find work. I might also add that no insurance card had ever been activated as far as (a pre-pay card) and we had only just recioeved the packet in the mail. We were told we could not cancel the policy and it was not cancelled until April 1...and this was only after my bossed stepped in on my behalf. I am currently having money deducted from my check until payment for those two months for the premium is paid in full. Did I have any recourse? Sorry that was such a long question. My second question is a lot shorter. Thankfully, my husband has since gained employment. Regretfully, his new company has turned me down for insurance stating that I am ineligible on the grounds that my employer pays more than 50% of my premium. I was insured through his last employer and don''t understand how I can be turned down if we are willing to pay my portion of the premium through his job. I will no longer have dental or vision coverage as I never had this through my employer because I cannot afford to take this out on my policy. Furthermore, he and I have discussed the fact that I will hopefully have the opportunity to soon find a better paying job and as such, will be left totally uninsured, or at the least, with a gap in coverage. I spent the last year undergoing tests and am still under a specialist''s care so I have to be very careful with discontinuing/lapsing my coverage. Will you please advise as to the legalities involving employers and denial of secondary spouse coverage? Thannk you so very much for your time and expertise.')