COBRA

Welcome back! In this post, we will dive right in and take a closer look at some details of programs that offer health insurance coverage for cancer treatment. With so many people recently laid off due to the Covid-19 pandemic, let’s start there.

• If you have become unemployed, you may have been fortunate enough to maintain your health insurance benefit from your former employer. If this is the case, that’s probably good news for you, because this policy will provide the same coverage as when you were employed, and should include cancer treatment.

• If this is not the case, you may have received notification to apply for the COBRA program. If you decide to enroll in COBRA, you will continue the health insurance coverage that you had during employment. So, what is COBRA? It’s described this way by the Department of Labor:

“The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events. Qualified individuals may be required to pay the entire premium for coverage up to 102% of the cost to the plan.”

In other words, COBRA can be an expensive option.

Even if your employer filed for bankruptcy, COBRA may be available.

You have limited time to apply for COBRA, so if you have received this information in the mail, don’t delay – open it! It is also worth mentioning that you can usually cancel your COBRA coverage at the end of each month, if you wish to do that. If you are eligible for coverage, and you need to start cancer treatment right away, it may be a good option to start with COBRA in order to buy time until you can investigate less expensive health care plans.

IMPORTANT! If you are eligible for Medicare and recently became unemployed, find out if you will have to pay a penalty for selecting COBRA instead of enrolling into Medicare.

For more information on COBRA

Facts to Help Determine Your COBRA Eligibility: https://www.benefits.gov/news/article/407?utm_source=enewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Editors%20Picks%20Selection%20Issue

Answers to frequently asked questions

Printable Resources:

health-benefits-under-cobra

covid-19 FAQS COBRA

 

You can also call the Department of Labor at their National Toll-Free Contact Center – Live assistance is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time by calling, 1-866-4-USA-DOL (1-866-487-2365), TTY.

You may also be able to receive assistance from your employer’s Human Resource or union representatives.

Update: For information on COBRA premium assistance under the American Rescue Plan Act if 2021 (Covid 19) go to: FAQS ABOUT COBRA PREMIUM ASSISTANCE UNDER THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021 (dol.gov) 

You may be eligible for deferred COBRA coverage up to September 30, 2021. 

If your opportunity to apply for COBRA has expired, or you are unable to afford COBRA premiums, your next option may be the Health Insurance Marketplace at https://www.healthcare.gov/ or call them at 1-800-318-2596. The Marketplace also has a blog at https://www.healthcare.gov/blog/ which is updated with great information on eligibility and options. Marketplace health insurance policies vary depending on your region and state. We can start to dig into Marketplace details in my next post.

Please post questions & comments below. I hope this information is helpful. If you would like to continue this conversation, please click on the “subscribe” button. I would love to hear your comments as well as resources that have worked for you. Please share this information with your family and friends.

Keeping you in my prayers,

Jackie