Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OW!

[mykidslovedogs]

Originally Posted by mykidslovedogs

I'll bet the waiver of pre-existing condition limitation is specified in the detailed plan description. Cute and Fuzzy - you might ask your wife's new HR dept. if they can supply you with a copy of the detail plan description for the Kaiser plan she is planning to elect. Let us know what you find out.

My husband, Scott is licensed in CA, and he says he has a group on Kaiser there. He said Kaiser did not enforce the pre-ex for his group.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thanks for all the advice, we'll get the detailed stuff on tuesday. Both her HR guy and the Kaiser rep said they werent going to make an issue of the pre-existing conditions.

Either way everything that says preexisting conditions apply give a 62 day window and it looks like we'll be at or below 62 days. The cobra "you must pay us by this date" is 6/1, and thats when her coverage kicks in.

So looks like we get a free ride if nothing happens to us between now and 6/1. If something does, I just need to get a payment to Ceridian asap and then we're covered.

Maybe I oughta leave the 35' ladder at the old house until then, and put off buying that compressor and framing nailer until next month...

[mykidslovedogs]

I'm glad you looked into it! That'll save you $2600.00. Sometimes that Cobra grace period really works out to be a bargain.

[lets-retire]

Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny

So looks like we get a free ride if nothing happens to us between now and 6/1. If something does, I just need to get a payment to Ceridian asap and then we're covered.

That was my plan when me and the DW changed jobs last year, but she had a seizure 30 minutes after her old policy expired. It was still cheaper to pay for three months of COBRA than pay the medical bill.

[mykidslovedogs]

Originally Posted by lets-retire

That was my plan when me and the DW changed jobs last year, but she had a seizure 30 minutes after her old policy expired. It was still cheaper to pay for three months of COBRA than pay the medical bill.

On that note, you might still want to consider a short term major medical policy just so that you aren't without coverage on the last two days after your Cobra grace period ends.

[Martha]

Originally Posted by mykidslovedogs

On that note, you might still want to consider a short term major medical policy just so that you aren't without coverage on the last two days after your Cobra grace period ends.

Often there isn't a 2 two gap because employers often don't get the COBRA notice out on the last day of work, but a few days later. Hope for a late notice because the 60 day COBRA election period doesn't start running until the COBRA notice. The COBRA notice will say when you have to elect COBRA. I believe that is CFB's situation.

[mykidslovedogs]

That's right. The Cobra grace period begins as of the date of the notice.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We get a bit of a double whammy, from the good side of things. Her grace period termination is 6/1, which is the date her new policy is effective. The invoice I got shows a coverage month for April, due april 1, with a grace period date of 6/1, and a coverage month for May, due may 1, with a grace period of 6/1.

I could also make a case that its longer than that...the original cobra notice just offered her individual coverage when it should have offered family coverage. Ceridian sent a followup letter on may 1st after I sent in the application noting a spouse and child as dependents that her employer made a mistake in not telling Ceridian that we had family coverage and that the original letter was being amended to update it to family coverage from individual. The letter does point out specifically that ONLY the coverage being offered is amended. Any lawyers in the house?

So unless something happens late in the day on 5/31, I think we're good. Anything prior to that and I could overnight them $2662 and be covered. I think.

We're okay paying for meds out of pocket for now. Got our prescriptions moved from walgreens to costco, and they're way cheaper. In fact, one of my meds is less to buy out of pocket from costco than the co-pay was at walgreens. :P

[mykidslovedogs]

This is all great info. I wonder if there's a way to save all these cost-saving tips in a separate section on the site.