Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

As I have said before, we are lucky my wife has full family medical coverage FOC, $10 co-pay for doctor visits, FOC Rx's & no referrals needed.
We are looking to move to another State, 2006. My wife called up Cobra, to get information on the Cobra benefits & charges. We will need this for 30 - 60 days before new employment Med Ins kicks in.

Wow, Cobra $1270 per month. Max 18 months. Plus all the jobs offers she is looking at, do not give the quality of Insurance we have. 1st she would have to pay extra for family cover, 2nd, Co-pays are higher, 3rd, Rx's no longer FOC, etc etc. At a minimum, we would be paying $500 mo, out of pocket.
The cost of moving keeps growing.
Reg. Frank R.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

Yep, only in the US could a government try to sell COBRA as a great benefit. It saves hassle when switching jobs, but only if you are prepared to pay through the nose. Basically a way to avoid hassle for the very well-off - not a great benefit for the rest of us.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

or the very sick, as Cobra has no pre-existing conditions clause, hence it's expensive.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

Yes. Also it's so expensive 'cos you are now picking up the costs that your employer normally pays.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

correct.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

Ahh, but if you were very sick you would only have 18 months cover with cobra and would be unlikely to be moving jobs or getting paid enough by your current employer to cover the cobra payments.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

:confused:
if you were employed and not covered through work, why would you get Cobra? You can get decent health insurance for $150 per person give or take privately.


scenario.........

you have to have kidney dialysis every week to remain alive.
no biggy, your group insurance through work picks up the tab.

you gat laid off, 2 choices.

a) pay for dialysis yourself for 18 months and go bankrupt
b) pay Cobra for 18 months, but they'll pay the many many thousands for dialysis instead of you.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

I'm not trying to attack you but I have to respond to this.
a)you (or a family member) can have an expensive medical condition without being "very sick".
B) What's your health (or a family member's health) got to do with how much you get paid?
C) People move jobs for all kinds of reasons and sometimes it's unavoidable.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

OK, so its not a great point. What I meant is that you would have been unlikely to have saved up enough cash from your current salary to be able to cobra.
A lot of my friends are contractors so they have had reason to look into this in the past. For a family of 4 you would expect to pay $1.8k in cobra fees per month.
All I'm saying is that i don't see it as a great bill, that's all.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

In this country has it not got quite a lot to do with what you get paid ???

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

Correct

A 5k bill to some people may put them into bankruptcy

to others it could be an annoyance

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

I think the whole benefits package (health care, pension, etc.) is often very poorly communicated when you are job hunting - yet it can make a HUGE difference financially.

My job in TN had fantastic healthcare (no premiums, very low co-pays, very low prescription costs with no BS "generic" crapola, no yearly deductible, great dental and vision coverage). Here it's not bad but every simple visit to the doctor seems to cost 100-200 dollars.

Pension wise, here you have to stay for at least 5 years for employer contributions to pension to be "vested" (belong to the employer). So an average paid professor who leaves on year 4, day 364 would stand to lose about 25,000 dollars plus interest - but finding this out at interview is like squeezing blood out of a stone!

I make a point with any interviewee in my department to give them a plain talk about benefits, especially the pension thing, so they don't come here under false pretenses.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

It's not.
I'd only EVER get Cobra if it were financially condusive to do so....ie if I needed a shedload of pills and had pre-existing conditions, and at that point Cobra knows this, knows that there is a high chance that they're gonna pay out, and therefore need a high premium not to go bankrupt themselves.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

A lot of people choose to use Cobra as a carry over Insurance, because they are going to new employment & the medical at the new Job does not kickin for 30 -60 days. It's easier to use Cobra, then get a private Ins for 1 -2 months. Because most people have some Pre Existing, its easier with COBRA.
Reg. Frank R.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

I know

that's what I just said. But if you have pre-existing conditions then it's never going to be cheap is it?

It's the equivalent of insuring a car you know is going to be in a 30 car motorway pileup next week.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

Agreeing with you is never that straightforward for some reason :rolleyes:

I got all the bumph about COBRA and on glancing at it initially I thought that it must be some kind of scheme where by the govt would pay your premiums for a few months if you were to lose your job. This was based on the fact that the first 4 pages of the booklet I got detailed the history of the Bill, quotes from politicians, etc.
When I found out what COBRA actually was I was wondering what all the fuss was about - typical really, all style and no substance.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

Yep, thats what most people think COBRA is. I heard about it a few years ago & thought the same.
Reg. Frank R.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

So, you're going to bite the bullet and pay the $1270 per month for COBRA cover?

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

I wood guess so. Unless the boss (Wife), can get the new Job to pay the premium. Sign on Bonus etc.
it's just another way they get ya. It's why people often stay in jobs they don't like. Pensions & Medical insurance, COBRA I think was started to alleviate this problem. It didn't?
I guess we should feel lucky, to have had Med Ins for last 17 years. When we first came to NYC, our insurance did not kick in for 30 days, baby got sick one bottle of Ceclor Liquid (10 days worth) was $150.
Reg. Frank R.
PS 45 million people don't have any.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

Depends on whether you want to gamble with something happening or not as to if it is worth the money...a slip and broken leg and that $1200 would be looking pretty good...

But it is a mare, we're taking a major hit in our medical coverage from good to basically crap coverage because the crap coverage is only going to be a little more expensive in the new year as opposed to mind numbingly more expensive...and to off set that, we've got decent car insurance...can't not afford to have a car in maine and we couldn't afford a replacement, and figured being young, chances of a major hospital stint would be snow/car related...it's all a big gamble really at the end of the day...we'd save a fortune not having any medical coverage, but not even I'm willing to risk that :D

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

https://www.temporaryinsurance.com/stm/Zip/

For a short term alternative to Cobra.
(I think Assurant still have pre-existing conditions clause though for this)

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

If you have a chronic medical condition that doesn't stop you from working but does require treatment, it doesn't affect how much you are paid does it? Employers don't pay you less because you have diabetes, MS etc.
If you have a family member with a medical condition it certainly doesn't affect what you earn.

COBRA isn't cheap but if you are facing a gap in medical insurance coverage and you or a family member needs expensive medical care it is often the most cost effective option.
For instance, my four year old has a medical condition and his treatment costs around $15,000 a month. Now say my husband has to change jobs but the medical insurance at his new employer won't cover my son's medical condition for the first 12 months. Paying a COBRA premium of $1800/month is better than being slammed with a $15,000 bill every month until we go bankrupt.
Is COBRA an ideal solution? No. Does it fulfill a need? YES.

If you are lucky enough to not have a preexisting condition, then you can look into other solutions such as negotiating with your new employer to pick up the Cobra payments or part of them or obtaining temporary private insurance etc.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

I know this may sound like a stupid question, but do you need to start paying into COBRA straight away, or can you wait until when/if something happens? I know it sounds crazy but one of my ex-pat friends was between jobs earlier this year and was given this advice by I think the COBRA helpline. FYI for a family of four they were quoted $800 per month for coverage. Can't verify the accuracy, but definitely worth looking into.

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

not directly, but indirectly it does, because your medical insurance costs will be higher, so more money taken out to cover it...

Re: Another Medical Ins payment shock
 

If you don't get paid very much or have poor benefits your health could suffer as it means you will be unable to afford adequate medical care.