COBRA question-- please read if you know anything about COBRA

[DebMcDonald]

I resigned today and have a question about COBRA coverage. My health insurance will run through the end of February. After that I'm planning to purchase family medical insurance privately because I can get coverage for about half the price I'd have to pay under COBRA. I understand that the company I work for (large company) has to give me some sort of notification of my options under COBRA and then I have a certain number of days to decide whether to continue my insurance under COBRA with my current employer. Everyone in my family is healthy. I'm wondering if I can float a "free" month of health insurance. By that I mean if I apply for private health insurance and have a start date of April 1 I can get by with not paying for the month of March. If something catastrophic were to happen in March then I could just elect to receive my current insurance under COBRA and I'd be covered. If nothing happens in March then I can float a free month of insurance. Hope that made sense! Is my thought process correct??

Yes you can and I have done this. You have either 45 or 60 days to elect cobra coverage, when my husband was laid off our insurance ran out on at the end of February, but our new insurance didn't start until March 30 when I started work, so we took the chance, knowing that we could pick it up along the way if needed. The only situation is if anyone has a previous medical condition and if so then you do not want a lapse at all in your coverage as your new insurance can deny claims for the previous condition. In my case, I work for a hospital and our medical insurance covers anything without any issues.

 

[Arielle22]

The company has 30 days to notify the plan administrator after the change of status.

The plan administrator then has 14 days to send an election notice to the employee.

The employee has 60 days to elect coverage (the start date is date of loss or date of Cobra notice whichever is later).