Published Jul 22, 2015
Randall1022
2 Posts
Is cobra care a good insurance to go with?
SarahMaria, MSN, RN
301 Posts
for what purpose? health, liability?
toomuchbaloney
14,938 Posts
Google is your friend.
The Pros and Cons of COBRA Continuation Coverage - Financial Web
I, personally, think that COBRA is cost prohibitive and will likely become a thing of the past.
roser13, ASN, RN
6,504 Posts
COBRA is a Federal law, guaranteeing the ability to maintain your group insurance coverage when you leave a job. Traditionally it is extremely expensive because your employer is no longer paying part of your premium.
I have never known COBRA to be an insurance option that one would choose to purchase.
For health. My wife is a teacher. She is going to part time. So I am going to have to pay.
Again, as far as I know, COBRA is meant to allow you time to find other coverage. In addition to being extremely expensive, there is a limit on how many months you can carry it, usually 12 to 18 months.
Liability insurance does not have COBRA protection.
Jolie, BSN
6,375 Posts
roser13 is correct that COBRA is not insurance, it is a federal law outlining an employee's rights and responsibilities regarding healthcare insurance once s/he no longer qualifies for group health coverage via an employer.
In a nutshell, most employees who lose eligibility for group coverage, due to job change, change in status to non-benefit, etc. must be offered the opportunity to extend their group health insurance for up to 18 months, at full cost to themselves. Because the employer no longer shares the cost of coverage, it can be quite expensive. When an employee has a change of status that involves loss of group coverage, the employer must provide COBRA enrollment information in writing. The employee has a limited amount of time to decide whether or not to accept coverage and pay the first premium. If the employee declines coverage or fails to make premium payments on time, coverage is terminated and will not be re-instated. So if you intend to decline, you should ensure that you have other coverage available to you.
You can check with your employer and see if your wife's change in job status qualifies you to enroll your family in insurance even though it is not yet open enrollment time. Otherwise, you can price insurance on the Obamacare exchanges.
Good luck to you.
JustBeachyNurse, LPN
13,957 Posts
COBRA is the ability to pay full price to maintain insurance when you lose coverage due to reduction in hours, termination or resignation. You pay the full premium, for a teacher who typically has highly subsidized premiums the cost is often a shock. Change in employment status is grounds to be eligible to shop the insurance marketplace. It's usually more affordable. However you only have 30-35 days to apply post change in status.