COBRA and the Stimulus package
For those of you in the same or similar circumstances as I, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Bill) that Obama signed last month contained a provision that ostensibly helps people who have been laid off with health insurance.
Basically the FedGov will cover 65% of COBRA insurance premiums starting February 17th, for up to 9 months. Some details are here, but the bureaucratic fine print is still being worked out. Unfortunately, like most things generated by Congress, it is a very limited and inflexible law. It is great for talking-points and enabling politicians to claim they are helping people, as long as you don't look too deeply at the details it is true.
Here are the circumstances under which this nice-sounding assistance will NOT be coming your way:
1) COBRA is only available for employees who are laid off, fired or quit from an on-going enterprise. If you were laid off because your company went out of business then COBRA does not exist, because when the group plan terminates, so does COBRA.
2) If you worked for a company that had less than 20 employees, COBRA is not even offered (except in some states- California for example has Cal-COBRA, which applies to companies with 10 or more employees). This plan will not help you with premiums now that you have been turfed out of your group plan.
3) Your company goes out of business and you have a pre-existing health condition and cannot purchase personal or family health insurance. Your only option is to buy health insurance from your state's High-risk health plan. These plans tend to be more expensive than regular health insurance, including most group plans. There is no assistance for you from the Stimulus Bill.
4) If you are laid off and choose not to elect your COBRA option, but instead find a cheaper, private health insurance plan, there is no help for you.
After I was laid off I went out and found a HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) for $232.64 a month. labrat2 had to stay on the plan due to her medical history (her COBRA premiums are $300.11, mine would have been the same). So the Stimulus Bill will pay $195.07 of her premiums. That's nice. But it also means that if I had stuck with COBRA my premiums would be $105.04 instead of the $232.64 I am currently paying.
However, my old employer is virtually bankrupt now, and may go out of business at any time. labrat2 will have to sign up for insurance from the Montana Comprehensive Health Association, at a cost of $420 a month. There will be no Federal assistance for her then.
I wonder if whoever came up with this part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 actually thought about the unemployed people their plan was ignoring. Fucking politicians.
Basically the FedGov will cover 65% of COBRA insurance premiums starting February 17th, for up to 9 months. Some details are here, but the bureaucratic fine print is still being worked out. Unfortunately, like most things generated by Congress, it is a very limited and inflexible law. It is great for talking-points and enabling politicians to claim they are helping people, as long as you don't look too deeply at the details it is true.
Here are the circumstances under which this nice-sounding assistance will NOT be coming your way:
1) COBRA is only available for employees who are laid off, fired or quit from an on-going enterprise. If you were laid off because your company went out of business then COBRA does not exist, because when the group plan terminates, so does COBRA.
2) If you worked for a company that had less than 20 employees, COBRA is not even offered (except in some states- California for example has Cal-COBRA, which applies to companies with 10 or more employees). This plan will not help you with premiums now that you have been turfed out of your group plan.
3) Your company goes out of business and you have a pre-existing health condition and cannot purchase personal or family health insurance. Your only option is to buy health insurance from your state's High-risk health plan. These plans tend to be more expensive than regular health insurance, including most group plans. There is no assistance for you from the Stimulus Bill.
4) If you are laid off and choose not to elect your COBRA option, but instead find a cheaper, private health insurance plan, there is no help for you.
After I was laid off I went out and found a HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) for $232.64 a month. labrat2 had to stay on the plan due to her medical history (her COBRA premiums are $300.11, mine would have been the same). So the Stimulus Bill will pay $195.07 of her premiums. That's nice. But it also means that if I had stuck with COBRA my premiums would be $105.04 instead of the $232.64 I am currently paying.
However, my old employer is virtually bankrupt now, and may go out of business at any time. labrat2 will have to sign up for insurance from the Montana Comprehensive Health Association, at a cost of $420 a month. There will be no Federal assistance for her then.
I wonder if whoever came up with this part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 actually thought about the unemployed people their plan was ignoring. Fucking politicians.