We are not COBRA. For specific contract details about your current company policy, contact your health plan administrator.
In Reply to: Cobra rights posted by Dawn on June 23, 2003 at 03:30:09:
Dawn,
If you and the kids are healthy and don't have any pre-existing conditions that would create underwriting problems, I would suggest taking all of the healthy family members out to individual coverage. It will be a heck of a lot cheaper, give you a greater number of coverage and benefit options, and eliminate the former employer from the equation. Since your husband has pre-existing conditions, he could enroll by himself on COBRA which would be a lot less than the family rate you were quoted.
I am not a COBRA expert, but I believe that changing insurance carriers has absolutely no bearing on the federal regulations. You have 60 days from the date of notification to elect continuation under COBRA and another 45 days to make the premium payments to get caught up. I have never heard of changing insurance carriers as any criterion for overriding federal regulations.
It is possible that the insurance coverage for your family was only paid to 1/2 month point. The company may front the month's premium to the insurer and recover bi-weekly from employee payroll. Since you husband quit before the 15th, they probably took him off the insurance plan effective his last paid-to date (15th) and will get a credit from the insurer for the 1/2 he will not be on the plan.
Find a good independent health insurance agent in your state and see what plans and programs are available for the healthy family members and have your husband elect COBRA for himself since he might be uninsurable.
Hope this helps!
Dave
www.davefluker.com
Gilroy, California
: My husband quit his job 10 days ago. Today the human resources lady calls me on the phone and said if we want to continue our insurance on cobra we need to have a check to them for $950 by the end of this week. Thats only 2 weeks since he quit. We have not recieved anything yet in writing regarding the cobra and I told her we should have 60 days to decide whether we want cobra and then another 45 days from then to pay for it. Her response is that they are changing insurance companies, does this matter?
: She also said our insurance was paid thru 6/15/03, only 2 days after he quit. Aren't policies generally charged a month in advance? I took our children to the doctor and filled some prescriptions today 6/23/03. I thought we should have coverage until the end of the month. The visits and prescriptions were approved thru the insurance and all I paid were the co-pays. But if our insurance was truly only paid thru 6/15, would the services been approved? Should I expect a bill now?
: This company is upset with my husband for quiting and I feel like they are trying to make things very difficult for us. My husband has a serious pre-existing condition so we cannot go without insurance, but $950 by the end of this week is impossible for us. We thought we had time, but 2 weeks doesn't seem fair. Any advice would be great. Thanks.
: Dawn