As if having to pay higher health insurance premiums each year isn't bad enough, now workers have another worry: companies that drop their health insurance coverage and don't bother to tell employees.

It's a practice that's on the rise, says Kristin Milam with the North Carolina Department of Insurance. State law requires that companies give their workers 45 days notice if they're going to drop coverage. Milam says that employees of businesses that don't follow the law often find out their coverage has lapsed when they go to the doctor's office.

A lot of small business owners are hurting right now, and those that have managed to keep group coverage for their workers even as health costs have escalated should be commended. But I can also understand that some businesses can no longer afford to do so. I can even buy that some business owners might not understand the law, but there is such a thing as common decency. Can you imagine having a chronic illness or being pregnant, handing over your insurance card, only to have the receptionist hand it back and tell you your policy has been terminated?

Milam says that when the department gets such a complaint, investigators give the employer a chance to reinstate the insurance and cover the back premiums so there's no gap in coverage. If they don't, the state pursues a case against the business. One high-profile example came last fall when the CEO of Pace Airlines, Charles Rodgers, was charged with terminating health insurance premiums for his 337 employees without warning.

The department also will work with employees, walking them through their options.