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COBRA May Not Be Best Choice
COBRA May Not Be Best ChoiceBy Bill Walsh
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
If you get laid off from your job, or, worse, your employer goes out of business, don't assume COBRA is your best bet or only option when it comes to health insurance.
"Right now, you've got a lot of firms that are laying off people, and a lot of firms that are going out of business," Priority Insurance Group senior broker Tim Bell said last week. "If you're part of a group plan covering 20 or more employees, then you are offered COBRA."
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) was passed in 1985 to help workers who lost their jobs continue their health insurance. Basically, it gave the ex-employee the ability to continue employer-sponsored health insurance plan.
The insurance coverage stayed the same, but the entire premium was to be paid by the ex-employee.
The coverage is mandated for a maximum of only 18 months, and it is expensive, usually costing 102 percent of what the employer and employee had together been paying.
Bell said that his company, which has offices in Upperville and Leesburg, among others, works with people who have been laid off and tries to develop an individual or family plan for them. Barring significant health problems, that premium is generally going to be lower than the COBRA premium, he said.
See the April 15 Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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