Vent: COBRA insurance, seriously??

Nurses General Nursing

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So I was laid off last month. Still waiting to get my application for COBRA insurance. I called the number to ask them when it was coming and asked them how much it was going to cost to have me and my husband on COBRA....$1,000 a MONTH just for medical. Seriously??? My unemployment check will not even come close to covering that, not even half! I am not in favor of Obama Care, but today I am seriously wishing some one would come up with a reasonable universal health care...Take my job away so I have no income and expect me to pay THAT for insurance...what are they smoking?

Specializes in LTC/Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

I know all of this!!! I'm paying for it, was paying for it before as well. I *GET* the concept of the benefit.

yeesh

Sorry to inform you, but BY LAW, COBRA bills only have a slight add on charge to them.

Your employer has been paying that for your insurance. The vast majority of working employees are only charged a small percentage of the actual fee for their insurance and the employer pays the rest, which is what makes it a BENEFIT. That small percentage that you is what you see deducted on your check.

Now, realize that cost to the employer is money that you do not receive in your check. You may only be receiving 25-35 dollars an hour, but then your employer is often chipping for your retirement contributions, SS (which many of us will never see), full amount for your insurance (of which many of us only pay a small fee), and other benefits. So your employer is paying a lot more for you than you see, and much of it is not on your check stub.

When you leave a job, you have to recognize that you are leaving a lot more than that 25-35 dollars an hour. COBRA charges you the full amount, not just the percentage you have been having deducted.

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So, which bill is "Obama care"? Was it H.R. 3962, that passed the House in November? Or was it H.R. 3590, that passed in the Senate in December? Why do you use the term "Obama care"? Are you just going to oppose anything you can attach his name to? What do you mean by "final plan"? No plan is final until it's passed and signed into law, which is a little late for you to say whether you agree or disagree. I applaud the idea of not claiming support or opposition until you're informed, but you can inform yourself NOW. The ANA has some information about the proposed reform that might be helpful to you in forming an opinion before it's too late: http://www.nursingworld.org/healthcarereformtoolkit. I'm not totally satisfied with either of these bills, either; I think far too much has been compromised and that single payer universal care similar to what some European and Asian countries have would be the more affordable, sensible way to go. But that's not going to happen here. Compromise is necessary, on both sides, and I have not seen Republicans willing to compromise on anything. So I support the current bill (which is available for you to read on the internet), because we need to make some progress. This issue is serious, and I cannot tolerate the dismissive "Obama care" language. Get informed and communicate respectfully or be quiet and get out of the way, please.

Thanks for the link. I only reference Obama care because someone else had called it that. I actually like Obama, even though I'm not a democrat and think he has some good ideas. ;) I will check out your link, but we know until we get a union from both sides of congress, we won't be sure just what the plan will be. Gotta go for my first day on a new job, so I can't stay to say more. Thanks again for that link, I'll read it tonight. :)

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I am a benefits counselor right now and the subsidy is 65% of Cobra premiums, so you end up paying 35%. If you were already receiving this subsidy it should continue with the extension, but if you are newly applying for Cobra make sure you fill out the application for the subsidy as it is not automatically given.

Great information. Thanks for sharing

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
The COBRA premiums are way less than it would cost you to get the same policy w/out your companies group rate. Remember that the premium may be high, but it is nothing compared to what the insurance company pays out when you use it. I have seen hospital bills for a baby delivery that were at leat $13k. Thats just for the hospital. I would rather pay the $1000 in COBRA premium than $13k to be without it. So if you put it into perspective the premium is not that bad compared to what you would be out of pocket without it.

Uh...you are preaching to the choir here...we had no insurance for a period of time because first we couldn't afford COBRA and then we were self employed and could not (for the first 2 years) afford the monthly premiums for insurance. When we finally could afford the ridiculous premiums (which covered catastrophic care at 80/20 with a huge deductible and NO preventative) my DH suffered a bowel obstruction, required many expensive tests and then an EXTENSIVE surgery followed by weeks of aftercare and expensive TID dressing changes. The insurance company refused to pay for ANY AND ALL of the care. They considered the obstruction PRE-EXISTING. And, before I get pelted with the suggestion that I can fight that....I DID. I had every page of medical records for 20 years from 2 different parts of the state. We were engaged in appeal after appeal after appeal. They felt bad...when we tried to get them to pay...they sent back 6 months worth of premiums. Meanwhile, we owed nearly $100k to a university hospital with ongoing expenses for care and the primary bread winner was out of the game for weeks...and again...we had no insurance.

So, I am acutely aware of the costs of having insurance, of having privately held insurance rather than employer held plans, and the costs of having an uncovered foray into the medical kingdom...

By the by...we managed to stay in our home and out of bankrupcy, however, we devastated our savings and retirement to do so. My DH lost his job this past summer at age 59 (Michigan/Ohio job market not that great)...we may yet end up in bankrupcy...are any of y'all going to preach at me about "PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY"?

We need reform in our health insurance system.

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I'm still not sure when or why health insurance became the responsiblity of the employer. I would think that if it weren't offered by employers there would be more competition which would lower prices. I know that car insurance, renters insurance, and term life insurance are quite inexpensive in the whole scheme of things. It's kind of funny that I can get term life insurance but not medical insurance...

Fuzzy

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I'm still not sure when or why health insurance became the responsiblity of the employer. I would think that if it weren't offered by employers there would be more competition which would lower prices.

A lot of us agree about that. The whole health-insurance-as-employment-benefit thing started in WWII, when the government put a freeze on wages and large numbers of able-bodied adult males were serving abroad in the military. Employers were hurting for employees and couldn't compete with other companies to attract good employees by offering higher wages/salaries (because of the mandated freeze), so they started offering other types of benefits (that represented financial benefit for the employee but didn't count as "wages") -- like health insurance. The system continued long after WWII and the wage freeze ended -- it no longer makes any sense, and, many would argue, creates more problems than it helps these days. No other country that I'm aware of ties your health coverage to your employment. But so many people in this country now believe that this is the way things are "supposed" to work (and believe that whatever the US does is the "right" way to do things) that it would be v. hard to change it (unfortunately, IMHO).

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Yes and interestingly it is the generation that was so sought after and had no competition for jobs (born 1929-1945), housing, school etc and new fangled employee benefits that are the teabaggers and screaming disrupters of town hall meetings. They not only had wonderful medical coverage from their employers which, like pensions, has become rare for following generations, they have had Medicare which is being reduced for the following generations. Baby boomers will have to wait 2 years longer or more to qualify. They also voted in property tax freezes that have devastated state budgets at the cost of education, libraries, and other vital services. Do not listen to them everything is not fine like it is. We need to change our system. It cannot go on like it is.

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Welcome to reality!!! :eek:

I was laid off my job almost 2 years ago and haven't even be able to get private insurance! COBRA is and always has been a joke...I would suggest you look into private insurance. However it has been my experience that no one will insure me for one reason or another. So the only option I have is to try and stay healthy and hope nothing happens to me.

With that said...I am probably about to open a can of worms...but I will take no insurance over Obama's plan ANYDAY! Visit an Indian reservation and see just how much government assistance they get for health care....the $$ runs out long before the end of the year. Obama's health care plan is not a good one and it still won't cover everyone. But here's the kicker......we will be REQUIRED to pay for health insurance even if it costs you $1000/month or face going to jail under his plan.

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Wow...your strong opinion is very offending! I am not of the baby boomer generation, yet I am what you called a "teabagger". I think the political opinions should be kept out of these posts - let's not turn this web site into another political war zone. Just because people don't share your political views doesn't give you the right to be so rude. I have ever right to stand up for my opinions just as you do.

:grn:

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But here's the kicker......we will be REQUIRED to pay for health insurance even if it costs you $1000/month or face going to jail under his plan.

Say what???? Do you have a source for that? The only thing I have heard (and I've been following the debate closely) is the idea of paying a penalty/fee if you don't carry insurance. I've heard nothing about sending anyone to jail, and suspect this is another fabricated "scare tactic" from somewhere on the Right.

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Specializes in mostly in the basement.
Wow...your strong opinion is very offending!

Just because people don't share your political views doesn't give you the right to be so rude. I have ever right to stand up for my opinions just as you do.

:grn:

Yeah!

Tell it, sister...

Sure, it's all good here if you feel like just making some stuff up ---really, it's not a problem----but for goodness sake,

rudeness can not be tolerated!

Rude?=NOT OK

Lyin'?=not so much an issue

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

My goodness. My partner and I pay about 120 $ per month (not each ) for our combined private health insurance. And that covers hospital and extras.

People without private health in Australia can go to a GP and be covered under medicare. The system may not be the best in the world but my goodness reading this thread really is just mindboggling.

I've seen the movie 'Sicko' and quite frankly it's just frightening.

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