Being recently layed off I got my packet of info about 2 weeks ago, informing me that I could continue my same group medical, dental and vision coverage for the family, on for an additional 18 months. Sounds great but I now have to pay the full premium of these policies. $1350.00 a month. Who on earth could afford that??? I knew that our premiums were going up starting January 1 and that our employer was going to make us pay more out of pocket before I was even let go and my significant other and I had decided we just couldn't afford the coverage even when I was still an employee. The cost as an employee was going to be almost $800.00 a month, that was a huge chunk out of my paychecks every month, so we had started looking for outside coverage before I even knew I was going to be layed off. I am Life and Health insurance licensed but I have not actively sold insurance for almost 5 years now so I know there have been alot of changes but I know enough about the industry to know that $ 800 was too much and we could do better elsewhere. The problem is that my employer only offered 3 plans and you had no options to pick and choose from certain benefits from within the 3 options so you were forced to to pay for benefits that you may not want or need but since it was group coverage everybody got the same thing. also the insurance premium for the employee themselves is pretty good but when you try to add 2 children and a spouse onto the policy the premiums just go thru the roof! We definitely were paying more out of pocket for insurance than we ever were using in benefits. We could have easily self insured ourselves for less but then you run the risk of a major injury or illness and then you could be in trouble from huge medical bills. Its always better to be safe than sorry and just have insurance. BUT always shop around and make sure you are getting the best coverage for the best price.
So now that I am not working we were put in a new delima of what do we do now. Until unemployment kicks in we cant afford to go buy coverage anywhere and the $1350.00 a month was not an option.... Until the Economic recovery bill was signed into law this week. Please note I am not an expert on this and there are more pages and items included in this plan than most of us will ever see or understand, so I can only tell you about what I have been told on this subject concerning myself only. So I can not guarantee the following info is correct for everyone or anyone other than myself. But I called my former employer yesterday and was told that yes part of the bill President Obama signed this week will in most cases allow the government to subsidize 65% of the cobra premium for up to a 9 month period. The package is still too new and my employer said that they do not have all of the details yet but they will be mailing info, to all former employees that will qualify for this new lower premium when they get all of the rules and regulations sent to them by the government. This is the info tht they had at this time, subject to change as they got more details. Apparently if I had all ready signed up for Cobra( which I hadnt yet, thank goodness) and had been paying the higher premiums all ready, they will not go back and refund anything for prior months, it is only for payments starting in March or April and going forward for 9 months. Also if you have been recently layed off( guidelines of that time frame were not known by my employer)and chose not to accept the cobra coverage at that time, you may be given a window of opportunity to sign up for Cobra coverage. Again this is only info I got from my previous employer concerning my specific case so please contact your former employers if you think you may qualify for this or if you have additional questions. Its definitely worth looking into. As we can probably afford Cobra coverage at this lower cost, for 9 months and that may give us enough time to find coverage elsewhere or give us time for one of us to get a job that has good coverage.
Friday, February 20, 2009
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3 comments:
Woot! That is wonderful news...I've only stared down that COBRA plan a couple of times, and it was nasty each time. Keeping my fingers crossed that you hear even better news soon! :)
Well, I was laid off on Jan. 16, so it's been too long for me, but even at a cost to me of 35%, I would still be having to pay $472.50 a month...and that is way more than we could afford, even with unemployment payments. (I have to date only received one week's worth of unemployment...36 days after my last paycheck!)
Im so sorry, I was layed off on 1-19-09 and I havent recieved my first check yet. I sat in line at the unemployment office for 2 and half hours last wednesday, just to be told that there are so many people applying for unemployment right now that the system is bogged down and that its taking 5-6 weeks on average before you ever see your first check. Unfortunately though I met lots of people in the waiting room, during my long wait and it had been almost 2 months for some and they were still waiting on the first check. So I know how you feel we are struggling to get by also. I have until 4-1-09 to decide about the cobra coverage and I am hoping the unemployment will have kicked in by then. For us $472.00 is cheaper than the almost 800.00 I was paying for insurance, when I was employed. Hang in there, I'm hoping things get better for all of us soon.
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