Continuing your health insurance is a severe challenge post lay-off. But there are options; you can enrol into your employed spouses’ plan whereas low income earners may qualify for a government-funded program. Whereas, in case your health is good, you can also discover a convincingly priced personal policy.
Many do prefer the COBRA coverage that allows employees leaving their jobs to maintain the group coverage they had while being employed; however in this case you need to pay the premiums all by yourself.
Now in post-stimulus bill scenario, the federal government is contributing to help meet these costs, thus making COBRA a viable option.
Some Particulars about COBRA Coverage:
COBRA is accessible, for 18 months, to those employees who leave their jobs -- willingly or unwillingly if they had group coverage via their employer and are now not covered. Also, the dependants of such employees also have an option to continue their coverage with the group plan.
However, if your company goes out of business, then COBRA is not available. The federal COBRA law provides coverage protection to employees of companies with 20 or more employees.
The federal stimulus bill passed in February 2009 accorded money for the federal government to pay 65 per cent of
COBRA premiums till nine months for those who qualify.
What you need to know about the federal subsidy:
Employees laid-off between September 1, 2008, and May 31, 2010 including their dependants only will qualify for the subsidy. Workers leaving their jobs willingly or those whose employment ended prior to September 1, 2008, may qualify for COBRA coverage but not for the subsidy.
You are not eligible for the subsidy, if you're eligible for another group plan your spouse's employer. Lastly, if your income is more than $125,000 or $250,000 for joint filers, you will have to pay back some or the entire subsidy with your income taxes.
