Health Insurance/COBRA

[daughtersrus]

My DD will be graduating college in Dec and will turn 23 a few days later. I just received a call from our insurance provider (the union that DH is in) saying that she will loose coverage on her 23rd birthday. If we want, we can opt for a COBRA plan but it's $879 a MONTH. I verified that we only need it for DD and she said that it doesn't matter. They charge $879/month regardless of how many people are insured under the COBRA plan.

DD's degree will be in Special Education but it's unlikely that she'll find a teaching job mid year. There are plenty of sub positions (because of the LBS1 certification that she'll have) so she should have no problem working full time but none of the school districts here (Chicago suburbs) offer benefit for subs even if they are permanent.

I hate to have her go without insurance but there's no way that we could afford to pay for the COBRA plan. It's almost as much as our mortgage! DD wouldn't make much more that as a sub. She's going to have to apply for any paraprofessional opening because at least most districts have benefits.

I guess that I just needed to vent.

 

[SC Minnie]

Have her look into her own policy. If she is typically healthy without any pre-existing condition and really on needs basic coverage it will probably be much cheaper than COBRA.

 

[4forMe]

Have her look into her own policy. If she is typically healthy without any pre-existing condition and really on needs basic coverage it will probably be much cheaper than COBRA.

ITA

She should definitely be able to find a much cheaper individual plan if she has no pre-existing conditions. The following link allows you to compare different individual plans - hope this helps.

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

 

[daughtersrus]

Thanks. I will have her do that.

 

[mrsv98]

Also see if she is eligible for the Federal Stimulus program that pays for 65% of COBRA. I am not sure how it works for students but when DH was laid off, it worked for us.

In the long run, buying her own insurance is going to be cheaper.

 

[mamacatnv]

The quoted flat rate makes no sense for 1 person. Is there someone who can clarify the actual costs to cover your daughter. The way COBRA is regulated is that the person opting for the COBRA can only be billed their true costs plus 2 or 3% admin costs.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I've had COBRA a couple times, after college, and after I quit a job once. Both times, it was about $450 a month. Sometimes, it's actually cheaper to call a popular insurance company and get quotes for individual insurance.

 

[daughtersrus]

The quoted flat rate makes no sense for 1 person. Is there someone who can clarify the actual costs to cover your daughter. The way COBRA is regulated is that the person opting for the COBRA can only be billed their true costs plus 2 or 3% admin costs.

I asked and the girl in charge of COBRA at the union office and she said that they have one flat fee regardless of how many people in the family need coverage with COBRA. She went on to say that it's because they are "self insured". I know that in the past, there are things that are supposed to be covered (like birth control pills) but since the union is self-insured, they don't have to follow those rules.

It really does confuse me.

Even if she could get the 65% covered, it will still be a lot of money each month.

 

[luvpooh]

Also see if she is eligible for the Federal Stimulus program that pays for 65% of COBRA. I am not sure how it works for students but when DH was laid off, it worked for us.

In the long run, buying her own insurance is going to be cheaper.

I'm almost positive this would not apply, I believe it only applies if you lose health coverage due to losing your job (through no fault of your own, i.e. layoff, reduction in force, etc)

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I would think she can find catastrophic coverage for much cheaper (in the event of somehting like cancer or traumatic injury or ailment requiring extensive hospitalization) and then pocket money to cover any out of pocket medical expenses while she waits for a job.

Nearly $900 a month is ridiculous.

 

[mamacatnv]

I'm almost positive this would not apply, I believe it only applies if you lose health coverage due to losing your job (through no fault of your own, i.e. layoff, reduction in force, etc)

Actually per my insurance broker it is loss of coverage regardless of the reason. I had 2 employees terminated for failing random drug tests and they both qualified for the subsidy. Perhaps my broker is incorrect but they handle all of our COBRA

 

[TiffinyKC]

The subsidy that is being referenced only works when an employee has a job loss. That's the purpose of the subsidy that is a piece of relief for unemployment currently. It's expensive since you're now paying 102% rather than whatever percentage that you had before. (They tack on a 2% administrative fee usually).

You might want to check out your homeowners insurance. I've heard of people having good luck with that when their child is no longer eligible for their plan and is looking at a COBRA premium.

I hope you have good luck with it.

 

[Darcy03231]

We were in the same boat for DS#1 (DH's benefits are also through a union). He's 25 and in graduate school. His benefits ended at age 24. He's very healthy and hardly ever goes to the Dr. We bought him an private individual policy with a $5000 deductible and 80/20 after that. Office visits are a $30 co-pay. Cost is $85/mo. For minor things he can use the student med center on campus at no cost (its actually paid as part of his tuition/fees).

 

[luvchip]

I just looked at this information from the original post. You are correct that is very expensive. My husband is a licensed agent in Michigan and I asked him about this and he agreed that you should look at her own insurance if she is healthy it will be much less expensive. He said alot of the plans now can cover dental for DD also. In Michigan it would be less than $100 per month for a healthy individual. The key reason the union has its own rules is because it is self funded and they will operate different and unfortunately your daughter can't receive the discounted rate since your husband is still working. She should be able to get a letter of creditable coverage from your carrier and and even have any pre-existing things covered on her own policy. If you have any other questions you can email him peteleto@hotmail.com

 

[minniecarousel]

I know (after the fact) that my sons' college has a policy that new grads can buy into. It made me nervous that our DSs had no coverage right out of college. But there are definitely individual policies much cheaper than COBRA.

 

[tar heel]

We bought our son a major medical policy for about $60 a month. We later switched to a comprehensive Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy so he could get a check-up, go to the dermatologist, etc., and it's around $130 a month.

You're lucky she's getting kicked off at 23 -- our DS was out at 22, and he still had a year of school then.

 

[luvthatdisney]

We went through this in July. Our DS turned 19 and is still in high school, long story He aged out of our plan since he is not in school full time.

Anyway, our DS has melanoma and cannot get an individual policy, period. Is only option would be to get a job that offered insurance and there would most likely be a long pre-existing time period to wait for coverage of his cancer.

We pay $427 a month for his Cobra, which I guess is good in comparison to yours, but that includes dental too. For my piece of mind, we will pay. He does get to keep it for 36 months since he was aged out of the plan.

Oh, the subsidy only applies if the person was an employee and was laid off. So DS does not get it. Would have been nice