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Is it actually tied to employment? It seems you can easily keep paying your own after leaving a job these days.
by talldatethrow 3y ago
Is it actually tied to employment? It seems you can easily keep paying your own after leaving a job these days.
- elashri 3y agoMaybe only in this context for high paid tech jobs at big tech companies. But I doubt that this is possible on the salaries of most other jobs or locations outside big tech. The world outside this bubble is mostly different. Maybe highly paid finance jobs would be another exception
- jmye 3y agoGetting an individual ACA plan is typically easier the less you make. You’ll typically be able to get a bronze plan for whatever you were paying for your share.
- bugglebeetle 3y agoThe ACÁ plans are largely trash such that you can easily end up paying more out of pocket than you would with a COBRA plan. Likewise, there are myriad issues with continuity of care when changing providers.
- jmye 3y agoThat’s absolutely untrue (unless you’ve paid significantly into your deductible, in which case COBRA may be the right way to go). Most HRA plans from your employer are virtually indistinguishable from what you can get on the exchange. While there can be continuity of care issues, every portal allows you to check that the plan your selecting covers critical doctors. It’s further no different than any issue you’d face simply changing employers. The clearest thing you learn working in healthcare is how poorly people understand the ACA.
- bugglebeetle 3y agoBy working in healthcare, do you mean actually healing the sick and injured or participating in the massively destructive sham that is the US health insurance industry? I find it’s the latter that larger defends the ACÁ because they profit from it at the expensive of other people’s misery.
- jmye 3y agoDid you have something to say, or were you just looking to make some personal swipes and call me names? Your comments about the ACA (you know there’s no accent on the word Act, right?) are hyperbolic nonsense.
- bugglebeetle 3y agoNo, I, like most Americans, just find it incredibly insulting to be lectured to about how “poorly [we] understand the ACA” after having spent untold hours dealing with all its nonsense, spending absurd amounts of money to be denied care, lied to and be given the run around by insurance companies, often during some of the most challenging moments in our lives. Likewise, I find it completely obnoxious when the same people describe themselves as working in “healthcare,” while directly profiting from the denial of it to others, often illegally, because they know the people they’re screwing don’t have the time and resources to fight back. Apologies for speaking so plainly, but if any of this is somehow surprising to you, you should wake up.
- jmye 3y agoSo you’re just here to tell me, without knowing what I do or who I am, that I’m evil and that I’m “profiting from the denial of care to others”? Cool man, good talk.
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- junon 3y agoGood lord you must live in a bubble to think this is the common case.
- jmye 3y agoIt is. Why do you think it’s not?
- talldatethrow 3y agoCall it expensive or whatever you want. But don't tell me it's tied to your job. Are luxury vacations tied to my job also? Are sports cars tied to your job in the US?? Words matter.
- Volundr 3y agoYes/no. COBRA is indeed the law, so yes you will have the option to continue your health plan for awhile (how long can very but > 1 year), but it can be remarkably expensive to do so. Your now paying your portion, the employers portion, +2%. And you've just lost your source of income. For those of us with high paying jobs who have made good financial decisions, this is probably OK for a time. But an extended unemployment, or being in less good financial shape and it can be effectively unaffordable.
- jmye 3y agoStop paying COBRA, unless you have paid significantly into your deductible. You can immediately get an ACA plan on termination for, comparatively, pennies.
- Volundr 3y agoYMMV. When I was laid off earlier this year COBRA was only slightly more expensive than an equivalent marketplace plan. But agreed don't skip checking the marketplace! Also be aware of the "COBRA gap". You have the option to (retroactively) opt into COBRA for 60-days, so depending on your situation it may make sense to do without insurance within the gap, and opt-in in the unlikely event something catastrophic happens before your new employers insurance kicks in.
- jmye 3y agoInteresting - my COBRA opt-ins have always been much higher, but it’s also probably down to location. And yes, totally agree - taking advantage of the 60 day gap can also be super helpful, especially if you’re not high risk.
- Volundr 3y agoOne confounding factor in my case may have been that I was employed across the country from where I lived, so the COBRA coverage vs the state market were completely different markets.