Insurance between contracts

[jcadler82, BSN]

I would ideally like to take a few weeks off between contracts to visit my family at home. What does one do for health insurance during this time? If you stay with the same agency, do they have some sort of extended coverage assuming you have contracted another job with them? Thanks in advance!

[perfexion, ASN, RN]

My agency's insurance plan provides coverage until the end of the last working month so I try to get all my appts in before then. If I really need coverage I use cobra but it's ridiculously expensive.

[NedRN]

Some agencies will cover assignment gaps if you continue to work with them. COBRA rules apply if an employer has over 20 employees. There is a loophole in that law (which is why insurance companies hate it) in which you are effectively covered after you leave a covered employer and only pay the premium if you need to use the insurance. There is a great article on PanTravelers that describes in detail how this works. It is like it was made for travelers! You can also COBRA insurance you like more legitimately for up to 18 months. But you are likely to find insurance on the federal or state exchanges (Obamacare) for less. The least expensive method is to not carry insurance and pay the annual fine instead. But then you won't have insurance!