4 ms·

> There's COBRA for that! If you quit your job, you can continue your previous employer's coverage for up to 18 months, but you'll have to pay the premiums your

> There's COBRA for that! If you quit your job, you can continue your previous employer's coverage for up to 18 months, but you'll have to pay the premiums yourself. That's not really a consolation if the premiums are really expensive. > And it's typically cheaper than what is available on exchanges. You can also get a subsidy for COBRA if you can't pay premiums, but only if you were fired. "Typically" yes, but not always. I mentioned in a sibling thread that when I was fired from a job and was on COBRA, the premiums were almost 4 grand a month. It was so expensive that I actually started calling up different insurance companies in the NYC area, because the premiums were slightly lower even just paying out of pocket, and luckily I narrowly qualified for a medicaid thing, and it ended up being free through the MetroPlus network [1], so it all worked out, but my point is that COBRA isn't always cheap. > We have universal healthcare: Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare and Medicaid are great programs, I'm very glad they exist, I think it would be horrible if they were taken away. That said, they're not "universal" healthcare. It's pretty easy to fall through the gaps where you're "too rich for Medicaid" but "too young for Medicare". Anecdata, but my brother in law does work for a living, as does his wife, and together they end up making somewhere around $75,000/year in Texas. Not a terrible wage, people have certainly lived on a lot less, but neither of their jobs have health insurance, and they make too much together to get it for free from the state. [1] If you ever get fired in NYC, I'm sorry to hear that, but do not hesitate to call MetroPlus. The agents there was extremely nice, helpful, and without an ounce of sarcasm I think that their existence makes the world a better place.

zdw 2y ago
The right way to think about Medicare and Medicaid is on a bathtub shaped graph, where everyone who is young is covered, everyone old is covered, and everyone poor is covered. It's just "above income threshold between ages of 18 to 65" that isn't covered. We just need to get the social/political will to fill the bathtub.
cyberax 2y ago
> "Typically" yes, but not always. I mentioned in a sibling thread that when I was fired from a job and was on COBRA, the premiums were almost 4 grand a month. That sounds illegal. They have to charge the same premiums that the employer pays. Unless you had a really expensive coverage. > It's pretty easy to fall through the gaps where you're "too rich for Medicaid" but "too young for Medicare". I'm sorry, I meant that they are examples of universal healthcare that exists in the US, with some conditions.
- tombert 2y ago
  I think my coverage was expensive. Also, and I don’t know how the legality of this, it got progressively more expensive each month. The first month was around $1800, the next $2500, the next $3100, etc.
- throwway120385 2y ago
  $4,000/month sounds about right for some plans. When I quit a job my COBRA premiums were like $2500/month which I did not want to pay since my new employer was providing me a stipend for an exchange plan in my area. My SO had a UHC plan through an employer that was like $1200/month via COBRA. I know that because we paid it so they could continue some treatment.

zdw 2y ago

The right way to think about Medicare and Medicaid is on a bathtub shaped graph, where everyone who is young is covered, everyone old is covered, and everyone poor is covered. It's just "above income threshold between ages of 18 to 65" that isn't covered. We just need to get the social/political will to fill the bathtub.

cyberax 2y ago

> "Typically" yes, but not always. I mentioned in a sibling thread that when I was fired from a job and was on COBRA, the premiums were almost 4 grand a month. That sounds illegal. They have to charge the same premiums that the employer pays. Unless you had a really expensive coverage. > It's pretty easy to fall through the gaps where you're "too rich for Medicaid" but "too young for Medicare". I'm sorry, I meant that they are examples of universal healthcare that exists in the US, with some conditions.

tombert 2y ago
I think my coverage was expensive. Also, and I don’t know how the legality of this, it got progressively more expensive each month. The first month was around $1800, the next $2500, the next $3100, etc.
throwway120385 2y ago
$4,000/month sounds about right for some plans. When I quit a job my COBRA premiums were like $2500/month which I did not want to pay since my new employer was providing me a stipend for an exchange plan in my area. My SO had a UHC plan through an employer that was like $1200/month via COBRA. I know that because we paid it so they could continue some treatment.