Need quick advice on health insurance here.

As noted in another thread my former company laid off 40 people unexpectedly Monday including my entire team and myself. Health insurance was terminated at midnight that day.

I won't get COBRA information for 12-14 days

My family has a weekend snowmobiling trip for my Dad's birthday. I'm concerned about risk if something happens being uninsured (we're pretty tame riders). I know I can't be refused treatment, just concerned about huge bills if something happens. They way this year has started for me so far (see How Are You thread) it's a real concern.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance....

My understanding is that COBRA is retroactive to the date you were laid off. Should be OK but I am not an insurance expert by any means.

Well, I'd either call your company's HR or the CS # on the back of your insurance card. COBr is a legal requirement, so they will know.

You have something like 60 days to opt in, and it is retroactive, and cannot be refused.

There is a technicality about the window to opt in, which I can't remember exactly, that might trip you up if you wait until the 60th or 90th day. You're safe within this first month for sure, I'm just cautioning that you should make decisions before too long.

Provided you accept cobra in a timely manner, the coverage will be retroactive to the date you lost the coverage.

Your former employer has Up to 14 days to notify you of your rights under cobra, the clock starts on the latter of the date you lost coverage, or, the date you were terminated.

You then have 60 days to decide if you’re going to elect cobra, and if you say yes, another up to 45 days to pay all retroactive premium due

After I retired, I went Cobra and it started retro from the day I retired ... worth a phone call.

Agreed with others, COBRA is retro to date of separation by law, assuming they are actually subject to COBRA provisions AND you make necessary elections by deadline for that, 60 days after termination typically, can be more if they design this way.

Only general exemption for being required to offer this to employees is if under 20 employees and even then they may offer a state plan, etc. If your employer was well over this threshold I'd not worry about it.

Pro tip - if you are looking for another job, and expect to find one in relatively short order and it will included health coverage. In that case you want to complete and sign the COBRA election ASAP, but don't deliver it until as close to the 60 day window ends as possible to ensure timely deliver, with proof. Note, that is 60 days, not two months. Make sure your spouse and some other reliable person knows this, has access to the election and knows if you are injured and unable to deliver this they must immediately.

Reason being is the timeline to have to make the first payment is typically tied to the time you make the election, not your separation. Usually 45 days after the election. As soon as you deliver the election (or before) you also want to have the same people you relied on for backup to that know to pay the premiums and deliver prior to THAT deadline. I wouldn't wait to last day, but if was actively in an interview process would come close to that. You do have to pay premiums back to date of separation so plan for that.

All of this allows you to take into consideration new coverage effective dates as well as any well care or injury during the period outlined above. For example, if I get fired on Jan 31, get a new job that starts March 15th with benefits effective April 1, I am holding my COBRA election until late March and then delivering it just in case the job bombs, but assuming all goes to plan and I have new benefits April 1 (and I've not had any material cost of care during the two months) I'm never paying that premium amount. Going uninsured during that brief period is fine as long as the cost of whatever care I had is less than premiums, and those premiums are gonna be steep.

You do have to take into account you are out of any insurer's network during that time, so you are paying full price rather than their contracted reduced prices. If you never set foot in doctors office, it doesn't matter.

This can save a fair bit of cash at a time when most people need it, but proceed with caution and full awareness of need of safety net of folks to take care of this. My instructions to wife the one time I did this were that if she got a call that I had been in a horrendous car wreck, she needed to put that election and the check in the prelabeled FedEx envelope and send BEFORE she came to see about me!

If it’s any help I have a guy in Troy that I can refer you to.

When I retired we lost my wife’s coverage through my employer. The company that managed my employers insurance plan only worked with groups and not individual plans.

They referred us to the company in Troy and he took care of getting my wife coverage until she reached 65. He also set us up with additional dental and vision and also now our Medicare Advantage plans.

Email me if you want to contact him.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
... and those premiums are gonna be steep.

....

It's been a long time since I was in the insurance business, but is COBRA still as expensive comparatively as it was in the past, now that everyone's health insurance premiums have 2x-3x due to Obamacare?

Termination at midnight the day you were laid off sounds odd but either way Cobra will take over with no gaps.

Cobra is still pricy but it allows you to carry on with what you have know till you can get employed or find a better insurance option. Again Cobra takes over with no gaps in coverage. Wife retired end of last year and we stayed with Cobra till we qualified for Medicare. Medicare took over on 2-1-2023.

Edit; wife says that everytime she's signed up for Cobra the price has been around 3 times higher then what we had through the company. Also you'll have 60 days to decide if you elect to sign up for Cobra and depending on the company policy the 60 days will either start at midnight of termination or starts when you received the Cobra packet in the mail. When and if you sign up for Cobra you will back pay the premiums to the midnight termination date.
She also said that when she's looked at OBama crap insurance that it was even higher then Cobra.

Thanks all... great advice. I've decided to go on the little trip this weekend. Not sure many more of these I'll have with my dad.

Shovelhead, I'll probably reach out to you when I get back.

I'm hoping this will be a very short term thing and I find something quickly.

I was in the same boat long ago. I wrote a check out for the $600 or so it would have cost, put it in an envelope and told Mrs. Lee (then my GF) to mail it if something happened to me before I got back from my trip.

I’d find a trustworthy independent insurance broker and get a quote and information about your options.
You will likely need something unless you get another job quickly or the former employer continues your coverage for some time.
Cobra is a backstop but expensive.

I didn’t read any advice similar to what I’m about to give you and it will save your cash flow.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT take COBRA for the mere fact it’s expensive and you have a better alternative: Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare. It’s early in the year which means you haven’t earned much this year. Under ACA, you get the maximum subsidy if your income for the year is between 138% and 150% of the Federal Poverty Level for your household. For 2022 and for a two person household, the income range is $24,041 and $26,130. In this range, you would pay $0 premiums for the best health plan available. The subsidy decreases until your income is 400% of the FPL where your premiums are limited to 8.5% of your annual income.

Go to healthcare.gov where you can find if your state runs its own website; if so, there would be a link and you can continue to apply at your state’s website, for example, CA has its own. Otherwise, you can apply at the federal website.

The process requires you to provide how much income you will earn for the year; you do not want to upload your income tax return. Instead, you can upload a letter stating what you expect to earn for the year. Be sure to state at least $1 more than 138% or else you’ll be forced into Medicaid. The maximum you want to state is 150% of the FPL for 2023 to get the maximum subsidy.

Now, assuming you get hired sometime during the year and you earn more than 150% or more, then you will pay back part or all of your subsidy as part of your tax return next year. But, at least, you’re preserving your cash flow now when you need it because there’s no income coming in.

One other important reason not to get COBRA coverage besides the high price is that it disqualifies you from applying for ACA. It doesn’t matter if you stop paying COBRA premiums; once you start on COBRA, you can’t apply for ACA until your COBRA coverage period ends.

If you have any questions, let me know. I know this like the back of my hand. It’s simply a tax strategy to get back taxes you paid since the government is on record stating Obamacare is a tax.

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Please discuss whether the coverage he will get through COBRA is equivalent to Obamacare. Most physicians locally refuse to see patients with Obamacare for a variety of reasons.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
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Most physicians locally refuse to see patients with Obamacare for a variety of reasons.

That's just plainly inaccurate. Insurance under the (un)Affordable Care Act is simply health insurance purchased through the state exchanges. You can buy the same name brand companies (ie BS/BS, Priority, Aetna) that you can alone or part of a group. Through the exchanges, you get a subsidy on the total premium based on your income.

The only thing that would be different is if you have income low enough that you are forced onto Medicaid. Then yes, there are tons of providers who won't accept you as a patient because the reimbursements are so low.

Disagree. For example, private insurance on Average pays 143 percent more than Medicare or Tricare. Maybe things are different in Michigan. IDK

Appliance Brad…the actual answer varies on where you live. Some states defaulted to the Federal exchange, some states run their own, and others operate as a hybrid between the Feds and their own state.

Here in Missouri, EVERY option has a much smaller network of providers than an employer based plan, AND, operate as an EPO (exclusive provider organization). If you don’t use an EPO provider, you have NO coverage.

Something else I haven’t seen mentioned involves deductible and coinsurance credit. The OP needs to find out if his former employers plan tracks on a calendar or a policy year. If he takes COBRA he gets credit. If he buys Obamacare he loses any potential credit.

Others have said he should talk to a local independent broker and that’s good advice.

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Exactly. Very few physicians outside of Free Clinics want to deal with Ambetter which is the local Obamacare product. WE like to call it AMWORSER insurance.

quote:

dit; wife says that everytime she's signed up for Cobra the price has been around 3 times higher then what we had through the company. Also you'll have 60 days to decide if you elect to sign up for Cobra and depending on the company policy the 60 days will either start at midnight of termination or starts when you received the Cobra packet in the mail. When and if you sign up for Cobra you will back pay the premiums to the midnight termination date.
She also said that when she's looked at OBama crap insurance that it was even higher then Cobra.
 
Posts: 17557 | Location: DFW | Registered: December 26, 2008

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COBRA is expensive. It is the employer cost of the insurance plus the employee cost plus an administrative fee. I have had to pay it for my dependents a time or two.