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> plus health insurance through Cobra. Nb. using COBRA is often pretty damn expensive, since you're paying the full cost of whatever plan the company uses. It
by yamtaddle 4y ago
> plus health insurance through Cobra.
Nb. using COBRA is often pretty damn expensive, since you're paying the full cost of whatever plan the company uses. It can make sense for some people since it means your deductible and max-out-of-pocket don't reset like they would if you switched to a marketplace plan (and then reset again when you get a new job and another plan) but it's not quite as nice a thing to have as it was before the HCA (when staying on COBRA could be a major money-saving move on premiums alone, for people with illnesses who'd probably be stuck on some incredibly-expensive state-backed insurer of last resort, without access to a company's group plan, if they could get coverage at all).
- nsenifty 4y agoThe companies (at least Meta/Google) are paying the full cost of healthcare for 6 months, at zero cost to those laid off.
- yamtaddle 4y agoOh shit, nice. That's not COBRA, but a benefit on top of it (to be clear, for anyone who may one day be able to use COBRA and might not realize the company doesn't usually pay for it) but is pretty great for those who were laid off, in this case.
- HWR_14 4y agoI'd imagine it's technically "COBRA, but we pay for it" as opposed to "We have kept you in the same status as an employee"
- chis 4y agoCobra has this unique advantage that you can turn it on retroactively, so it's actually decently cheap for healthy individuals. You can just plan to not pay for it and then if things go wrong you can incur medical bills and send them to cobra after signing up. Of course you do have to backpay cobra if this happens.
- yamtaddle 4y agoYep, that's true! Thanks for adding that, it is important. As long as you can put enough money aside to cover the entire COBRA period, this is indeed the best "play" when offered COBRA, unless you're sure you're gonna need it from the beginning (in which case you may as well just sign up to begin with—less hassle that way). If you don't end up needing it, you basically just got free health insurance for a few months.
- pound 4y agoit's 60 days to elect whether you'll be using COBRA. If employment is terminated early in the month usually coverage is still there through the end of the month, but if termination is at the very end of the month it can be exactly just 2 months, not few.
- chis 4y agoAh good catch. The 60 day deadline was paused during Covid but I guess it’s coming back starting this May.
- m463 4y agoI thought cobra gave you group healthcare rates. Meanwhile individual healthcare might have had restrictions and higher premiums.
- yamtaddle 4y agoYes, group rates. It probably varies by states, but basically all group plans—even ones that aren't that great—are more expensive than even our gold-tier HCA plans, let alone silver and bronze (because all our HCA plans are terrible by comparison to even the fairly-poor group plans). The group plans might actually be cheaper in other states, I dunno. (there are also literally zero providers of individual plans that aren't on the healthcare exchange, in this state—none—so the couple options on there are all you've got)
- lotsofpulp 4y agoI think you mean ACA plan, not one that confirms to the Affordable Care Act and is available for purchase in healthcare.gov