COBRA Alternatives For Unemployed

What is COBRA?

COBRA is not health insurance, as some people think. It is a law that protects some terminated employees. It provides an extension of group health insurance for eighteen to thirty six months after employment is terminated. All companies do not have to offer the extension though.

The health benefits through COBRA will cost you more money then getting your own individual health plan. When an employee gets group benefits from their jobs, the company usually pays part of the premium. When the employee is terminated, employee will have to pay the entire premium. That is why having coverage through COBRA is expensive. The cost is actually entire premium for the group health insurance benefit.

Should Employees Accept COBRA?

People with certain health problems, a pregnant family member, or other issues should consider extending their group health benefits through COBRA. It is important to understand the available COBRA alternatives before making a decision. People with health issues will probably not have as many affordable health insurance options as very healthy people. You can always keep your coverage through COBRA and apply for individual Anthem Blue Cross health insurance plan. In addition, it can be tough to find options for pregnant family members, or even for families with a pregnant family member.

What Are Health Insurance Alternatives?

There are many individual health plans that are offered by Anthem Blue Cross. These include permanent health plans and short term medical plans. Younger and healthier people may find affordable coverage like Tonik health plan, and it will be a great alternative. For instance, if you are planning on finding another job with group benefits very quickly, a short term policy may be the best solution. If you are planning on starting your own business or performing contract work, a permanent individual health insurance policy can work great for you.

Are There Other Alternatives for Medical Coverage?

Do you have health problems that cause insurers to decline you? And is your COBRA extension just too expensive, or do you lack that benefit because your employer did not have to provide it? Your choices will be limited by the available plans in your area.

If you have very limited resources, you may be able to qualify for state and federal programs like Medicaid, CHIPS (Children) and Healthy Families (Children and Pregnant Women).

If you cannot qualify for a state or federal program, you may look for a county health program which has a sliding fee scale. In addition, every state has a high risk health insurance coverage for people who cannot get private health insurers to accept them. These high risk programs do have premiums, though, and they can be very expensive, especially for people who are used to having their company pay for most of their medical insurance bill! Here is a list of states that provide high risk insurance programs.

How Can You Find Alternatives?

You should start with your company benefits department to find out what group extension is available to you, and also, how much it will cost. Then explore private health insurers. Find out if a family health insurance policy is affordable, and if it will accept everybody in your family. Make sure your family is accepted before you turn down any group extensions, and make sure it will provide the coverage you need. It does not cost anything to apply for individual health insurance, submit your application and then make a decision based on the insurers response.