Ugh, health insurance. I knew this would be the problem when I got fired. We have some decisions to make.
I have a pre-existing condition, asthma. I was hospitalized for over a month as a child. Then, when I moved to the big city to go to college, I relapsed. I was in the hospital two days. Since then, my asthma has been under control with expensive medicine, and I have enough medication to approximate an ER visit, including the fancy machine. I have easily two years of my asthma medication.
We have health insurance until the end of the month. So, a lot of stuff booked...
Work finally sent me the COBRA info. It will cost $550/month for just me, $1,100 for me and Senor Dog. I thought it would be more, but this is still really expensive.
Our dental would be $80/month (it's crap!) and our vision would be $20/month. I didn't even know you could COBRA vision and dental. We should probably pass on these.
Hey, at least we get to write it off, I guess. The prudent thing is to just buy it and use the nice insurance. It's a lot better than we can get as self-employed.
Monday, April 13, 2009
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I thought that there is a new program where the government (assuming U.S. here) will pay for a percentage of your COBRA for a certain amount of time. Perhaps that's already figured into your company's calculation.
I thought with the recent changes, that your previous employer is responsible for 65% of your COBRA costs? I read it somewhere, you might want to do some research into that.
Ugh, asthma is the pits. I have the adult onset type.
I agree with the other posters that you should look at the 65% discount on COBRA that the federal government is offering. Beyond that, many major drugstores now have prescription drug programs that cost as little as $4 for generics. (I don't know how much that'll help you since not much asthma medication has been genericized, but it's worth investigating.) Best of luck.
I think it's that you'll get a tax credit of 65% of the cost.
I think the govt actually covers 70% of your COBRA now when you get laid off.
Asthma will be a no go for you with an individual plan. But you can get temporary insurance through BlueCross BlueShield or United Healthcare for about $65 per month with a $2,500 deductible for six months and then renew for another six months if needed. That will hopefully get you through long enough to get another job. Something to look into. It's what I'm doing now.
Check out ehealthinsurance.com for rates.
Yes Yes Yes!! It just happened to me!! We are so close in our lay off times! My date was March 10th. Ew.
Anyway- You get 65% off of your Cobra costs. MAKE YOUR EMPLOYER send you the form. Mine acted like they didnt have the form.. and then found it when I asked them a lot about it.
My cost was like $360 for just me- and went down to like $100ish.
FOR SURE take the COBRA Obama 65% discount!!
xoxo
I found this about the US Recovery Act and Cobra --it doesn't state how you actually apply for the money..
"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also provides another option for people who have lost their jobs since Sept. 1. The federal government will pay 65% of the cost of buying health insurance through a former employer - commonly known as COBRA - for nine months."
Good luck!
definitely shop around for your husband if he does not have any pre existing condition.
ehealthinsurrance mentioned above is pretty good , I used it twice.
I am seflemployed male 35 and pay 70 a month with a high deductible - which allow me to squirrel some tax free money away into an HSA , money that if I am not mistaken could be used to pay your Cobra
The previous posters are right about the COBRA payments. Under the new program you only pay 35% and your employer pays the reamining 65% and then gets a tax credit/rebate for it from the government. That should help quite a bit with the expenses so make sure you take advantage of it, especially with your asthma.
Since Senor Dog's business is going so well and he has employees, is he shopping around for insurance? I know that my small time business buddies have all started offering insurance once they get to around 4 employees. I hope you can get the Cobra discount, that will help with some of the costs.
Well there's lots of info online about COBRA and other alternative sources of health insurance despite getting laid off. I wish you good luck, better health, and hopefully even a new job.
As long as you don't have a lapse in coverage, your asthma should not be a 'pre-existing' condition. It was never an issue with mine, even with a daily inhaler med. (Luckily I don't need a daily one anymore.)
One thing to do is ask for free samples if you can from your doctor. Tell them you lost your job and usually that starts the flow of free samples. They can always get more from their pharma reps.
Also, sometimes medical schools have low-cost clinics that can get you cheap prescriptions from the school's in-house pharmacy. I did that when I didn't have insurance and my doctor got me $5 meds. It usually takes longer than a regular pharmacy to fill it, but if you're unemployed, you've got time to wait, right? ;-)
Good luck! I know how hard it is to breathe sometimes.
Insurance after a layoff sucks. Our COBRA for our family was $1300. It was more than our mortgage. I was glad we had it but I was so glad after I got my new job and the new insurance kicked in. Who wants to pay that chunk-o-change every month. I hope your prospects lead you to a job you like more this time.
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com
Check the website for your asthma medication - a lot of them - ProAir, Flovent, Asmanex, QVAR, Ventolin, etc. offer cards or coupons on their websites that will give you money off the medication, regardless of if you qualify for any federal programs. They still make money on the drug but you pay less (Up until a month ago I worked for a drug company - I was laid off too)
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