Keep Your Health Insurance if you Lose Your Job
Posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 and is filed under Career. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
If you get laid off and don’t have health insurance, don’t panic. Here are seven tips from the National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonprofit organization, that can help you get health coverage if you lose your job.
• Use it before you lose it. One of the first things you should do after getting laid off is ask the company HR person exactly when your employer-paid coverage expires.
• Stay in your employer plan by paying the (COBRA) premium. Be aware that you must accept and sign up for COBRA within 60 days or lose that option completely.
• Apply for the federal (COBRA) subsidy. Under the new stimulus bill, you may qualify for a 65% subsidy of COBRA costs for that first nine months.
• Choose a cheaper former employer plan. Ask your former HR representative if the company offers a lower cost insurance plan that would cost you less under COBRA.
• Join a spouse’s or parent’s health plan. However, you need to act quickly because federal law requires that you sign up within 30 days from the date of a job loss.
• Shop around for inexpensive coverage. There may be cheaper and better alternatives to COBRA, especially if you have no severe health problems.
• If uninsurable (because of pre-existing conditions) you may still be able to obtain insurance. 35 states have high-risk pools to insure those who are turned down by commercial insurers.
Ask questions and don’t procrastinate past your 62-day window. Even high-deductible, catastrophic coverage may prevent years of financial medical debts.
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