Cobra is expensive

by Guest » Tue Nov 04, 2008 07:12 am
Guest

Why does Cobra insurance charge so heavily upon us?

Total Comments: 9

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 10:05 am Post Subject:

It doesn't.

That's a misconception.

When you go on COBRA you pay the full premium that your employer was paying. Most people with group health have no idea how much of the premium their employer was paying for them.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:07 am Post Subject:

Hi, you may find the COBRA expensive since you'll be paying the full premium of the coverage in addition to the 2% administrative charges.

The premium for COBRA also depends upon your residing state, as people staying in the states other than New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont may be able to pay lower premium on the COBRA coverage.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:59 am Post Subject:

What I can tell you is that when you are on an employer provided health insurance plan, a portion of the premium is paid by your employer in addition to what you pay. Now when you are on COBRA, the responsibility of paying the entire premium amount rests on you. Your employer now has no more responsibility to pay the portion he/she was paying for your health insurance. This is the reason why you may feel that COBRA is expensive. In addition, when you are on COBRA you will also have to pay an administrative fee up to 2%. If you are planning to get COBRA you'll have to be enrolled under an employer provided health insurance plan. Are you enrolled?

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 04:52 am Post Subject:

I agree with Gardberg. While it's not always possible to just buy an individual policy because of underwriting, if you can, it's the way to go. COBRA policies are outrageously priced.

If you're just waiting for another job to start and you'll get coverage in 90 days or so - then either ride it out or pick up a short-term policy. If you need something more permanent, then definitely shop it.

I really like the high-deductible major medical policies with a tied-HSA account. But not everyone likes that sort of arrangement - so I don't push it too hard. :)

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 06:32 am Post Subject:

Quite effectively described by you about the Cobra plan, thanks for that.

Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 09:53 pm Post Subject:

yeah.. a better plan individually is cheaper than the cobra plan by 700.00 (from the same provider)

Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 07:48 pm Post Subject:

The main purpose of COBRA is for protection of those who recently were unemployed and are in need of health insurance. The policies and premiums that you receive are supposed to be comparable to what they had originally, so if the former employer paid for a high cost health plan, it would reflect on it.

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 07:20 am Post Subject:

The main purpose of COBRA is for protection of those who recently were unemployed and are in need of health insurance. The policies and premiums that you receive are supposed to be comparable to what they had originally, so if the former employer paid for a high cost health plan, it would reflect on it.


The "monkey" does not know of what it writes.

COBRA is not a type of insurance. It is a federal law that provides an opportunity to three types of "qualified beneficiaries" (employees, their spouses, and their children to age 26) to continue their employer-sponsored group health insurance at the group rate for 18 or 36 months depending on which one of six "qualifying events" resulted in the loss of group health insurance.

You don't go shopping for a COBRA health plan, you don't get something "comparable" to what the employer provided -- you get the exact same coverage from the same policy, and it's not "more expensive" than group health insurance -- it's the same cost -- only now the employee/spouse/child is paying 100% (or up to 102%) of what the cost is to the employer and/or the employee combined.

Those who don't know the facts should not substitute their misunderstanding.

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 07:31 pm Post Subject:

Those who don't know the facts should not substitute their misunderstanding

.

You seem to do this quite often.

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