COBRA Question

[Dwhit]

Suppose a person retires at the end of 2013 and desires to get COBRA coverage for insurance from their employer, at least until a decision on whether it is cheaper to use an ACA plan can be made.

What happens if that employer-provided plan was a high deductable plan with HSA that gets disallowed under the ACA minimum policy requirements?

I would think some type of COBRA coverage would still be required to be provided, but am not sure.

 

[2B]

COBRA is still required if the employer offers employees heath insurance. If the employer plan changes, I'm pretty sure your COBRA plan would change with it. I think that if the employer drops their plan then COBRA goes away. I recall an issue like this with a company going bankrupt a few years ago.

Unless you worked for one of the companies with bare bones plans, your company plan should meet the ACA requirements. An exception would be where companies don't have birth control or abortion coverage. This will work its way to the Supreme Court in another year or so.

COBRA with my company is cheaper than the ACA policies for couples over 50 or so. Older people win with COBRA but it goes away in 18 months. Younger families would probably save money with the ACA exchange plans but their deductibles would be significantly higher. Generalizations are difficult because the coverages by different employers vary considerably.

 

[nun]

I just looked at my health care options for after I leave my job. COBRA will be $429 for a very rich plan, or I can go with ACA and pay $265 for a 2k/6k plan. I will also qualify for a subsidy as my income will be under $35k once I leave work. My question is can I apply that subsidy to the COBRA plan?

 

[MichaelB]

My question is can I apply that subsidy to the COBRA plan?

Subsidies only apply to plans acquired through the exchange.

 

[rbmrtn]

My question is can I apply that subsidy to the COBRA plan?

Don't think so. Subsidies are only for plans on the exchanges

 

[Dwhit]

So I got on Healthcare.gov and registered. I went on to the place where I could compare available plans. The website seemed very easy and responsive so far, not sure what all the fuss is about. Maybe it gets tougher to actually enroll.

I did talk to someone at the insurer I was looking at enrolling with. They said I could apply for an individual plan that would start December 1, 2013, and I d get coverage thru 2014 at less than half the cost of the healthcare.gov plans that start January 1, 2014. I am not sure this is good info, though I plan to look into it further. She said I would have to apply by November 15th.

 

[teejayevans]

I just looked at my health care options for after I leave my job. COBRA will be $429 for a very rich plan, or I can go with ACA and pay $265 for a 2k/6k plan. I will also qualify for a subsidy as my income will be under $35k once I leave work. My question is can I apply that subsidy to the COBRA plan?

If you have employee insurance (COBRA counts), you are not eligible....given the problems with ACA, I would count my blessings, hopefully in 18 months when your COBRA runs out they'll have issues worked out.

 

[rbmrtn]

If you have employee insurance (COBRA counts), you are not eligible....given the problems with ACA, I would count my blessings, hopefully in 18 months when your COBRA runs out they'll have issues worked out.

COBRA is not counted as employer provided insurance in regards to eligibilty for the exchange. During open enrollment you can drop COBRA and switch to an exchange plan. COBRA does count as meeting the requirement to have insurance.

 

[sengsational]

If you have employee insurance (COBRA counts), you are not eligible....given the problems with ACA, I would count my blessings, hopefully in 18 months when your COBRA runs out they'll have issues worked out.

I think this might need another look, actually.

It is my understanding that just because you may have access to cobra, that does not mean you are not eligible to get an ACA policy and, if you shop on the exchange, get your subsidy in advance.

The problem would be if you accepted cobra. Then you'd be stuck with it until the next open enrollment. But since open enrollment lasts through March, that offers a pretty flexible situation.

One option, if you became unemployed at a point other than during open enrollment, would be to immediately enroll through the exchange. You'd be covered with that policy within fourty five days, worst case. But you have sixty days to accept cobra. So if you sit on the cobra decision and don't need health care, you're golden. If something badcomes up, you opt into cobra and you'll have been continually covered.

 

[Dwhit]

One option, if you became unemployed at a point other than during open enrollment, would be to immediately enroll through the exchange. You'd be covered with that policy within fourty five days, worst case. But you have sixty days to accept cobra. So if you sit on the cobra decision and don't need health care, you're golden. If something badcomes up, you opt into cobra and you'll have been continually covered.

That is an excellent point! Thanks for that advice. It might end up exactly fitting my situation.

 

[ziggy29]

COBRA is not counted as employer provided insurance in regards to eligibilty for the exchange.

Here's something about that straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak:

https://www.healthcare.gov/what-if-i-currently-have-cobra-coverage/

If you have COBRA continuation health coverage, you can keep it or decide to buy a Marketplace insurance plan.

 

[ERhoosier]

IIRC, leaving COBRA is a 1-way decision. If you take Exchange Plan you cannot opt back into COBRA (unless you re-qualify for COBRA by w#rking & leaving a new job ).

 

[rbmrtn]

IIRC, leaving COBRA is a 1-way decision. If you take Exchange Plan you cannot opt back into COBRA (unless you re-qualify for COBRA by w#rking & leaving a new job ).

That's correct. That is part of COBRA, if you don't opt to take it within the time frame allowed by HIPAA then you loose it. I recall it was 60 days to elect COBRA, use it or loose it.

 

[ziggy29]

That's correct. That is part of COBRA, if you don't opt to take it within the time frame allowed by HIPAA then you loose it. I recall it was 60 days to elect COBRA, use it or loose it.

Except during a COBRA open enrollment period. My ex-Megacorp is having one of those right now. DW and I both need an eye exam and almost certainly new prescription lenses, so I'm going to opt to take that for $14 per month for the two of us.

 

[teejayevans]

COBRA is not counted as employer provided insurance in regards to eligibilty for the exchange. During open enrollment you can drop COBRA and switch to an exchange plan. COBRA does count as meeting the requirement to have insurance.

IIRC, when originally taking the questionnaire they kicked you out if you said you had employee insurance including COBRA, but I didn't think of canceling it