Co-Founder, TermInsuranceBrokers.com, Goldenzweig Financial Group, Las Vegas, Nevada
COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) is a program that was passed to allow people to continue group health insurance that would otherwise have been terminated. The most common users of COBRA are employees who leave their job where they had employer-sponsored health insurance, usually after being laid off or leaving the group on their own terms.
COBRA coverage can be kept for up to 18 months and is only available to individuals and families covered under a plan with more than 20 employees enrolled. Your premiums under COBRA coverage are 102% of the total cost of insurance – this is important because many employers pay for part of the cost while the employee is still working. COBRA election applies to each person individually that is covered under a given health plan.
Since health insurance is guaranteed issue under the affordable care act, you do not want to wait until your COBRA coverage expires to look for a new policy. Doing so can cost you a lot more money unnecessarily. Consult with an experienced health insurance broker to compare your options and see which plan option will best serve your needs.
I hope the information is helpful - please feel free to contact me for help and if you have any other questions. Thanks very much.
Persons eligible for coverage and who were covered under the employer's group health plan as of the date of the termination of employment of the employee are eligible for COBRA continuation. Generally this means the employee themselves and possibly their spouse and/or children.
The COBRA Federal continuation requirements apply to companies with more than 20 employees, groups smaller than this operate under guidelines from their state insurance commissions that vary from state to state and are often not totally consistent with COBRA legal requirements. The most notable area of difference usually being the period of time a person can continue their coverage through the group. As such, the size of the employer group a person is leaving can also determine whether or not COBRA applies to them at all.
One of the reasons COBRA was originally implemented was to keep people with pre-existing medical conditions from immediately losing their health insurance coverage when they lost a job. Since January 1, 2014 pre-existing condition exclusions and underwriting have been eliminated and all individual policies have become guaranteed to be issued. In addition, for individual health insurance plans bought through the government health insurance marketplaces people can be eligible for premium subsidies with income levels up to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. For these reasons, while COBRA continuation continues to exist, it is now only an option to be considered for an ex-employee and COBRA continuation is now often not the most cost effective option available. Exploring your options in the individual marketplace definitely makes sense and you should seek out the services of a health insurance broker who represents multiple carriers with products both inside and outside of the government marketplaces.
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COBRA coverage can be kept for up to 18 months and is only available to individuals and families covered under a plan with more than 20 employees enrolled. Your premiums under COBRA coverage are 102% of the total cost of insurance – this is important because many employers pay for part of the cost while the employee is still working. COBRA election applies to each person individually that is covered under a given health plan.
Since health insurance is guaranteed issue under the affordable care act, you do not want to wait until your COBRA coverage expires to look for a new policy. Doing so can cost you a lot more money unnecessarily. Consult with an experienced health insurance broker to compare your options and see which plan option will best serve your needs.
I hope the information is helpful - please feel free to contact me for help and if you have any other questions. Thanks very much.
The COBRA Federal continuation requirements apply to companies with more than 20 employees, groups smaller than this operate under guidelines from their state insurance commissions that vary from state to state and are often not totally consistent with COBRA legal requirements. The most notable area of difference usually being the period of time a person can continue their coverage through the group. As such, the size of the employer group a person is leaving can also determine whether or not COBRA applies to them at all.
One of the reasons COBRA was originally implemented was to keep people with pre-existing medical conditions from immediately losing their health insurance coverage when they lost a job. Since January 1, 2014 pre-existing condition exclusions and underwriting have been eliminated and all individual policies have become guaranteed to be issued. In addition, for individual health insurance plans bought through the government health insurance marketplaces people can be eligible for premium subsidies with income levels up to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. For these reasons, while COBRA continuation continues to exist, it is now only an option to be considered for an ex-employee and COBRA continuation is now often not the most cost effective option available. Exploring your options in the individual marketplace definitely makes sense and you should seek out the services of a health insurance broker who represents multiple carriers with products both inside and outside of the government marketplaces.