US Medical Supplies Blog

On Monday, January 26th, over 65,400 jobs were cut from several companies inside the U.S. It’s being called “Bloody Monday,” and those who lost their jobs face a tough decision: whether or not to continue their families’ healthcare plan under COBRA. If you have recently been laid off, or you think it may be coming, here are a few things you should know about continuing your healthcare coverage under COBRA.

COBRA allows you to continue your family’s healthcare plan for up to 18 months at the former employer’s negotiated group rate. If you elect to continue your coverage, you will pay much more than you have been paying – your employer probably paid about 80% of the plan’s cost – but its still much less than the cost of an individual plan, and you won’t have a lapse in coverage. This insurance is expensive, and the tough choice comes at a time when one of the family’s income-earners has just lost their job.

If anyone in your family has an ongoing need for medical care, you must elect to continue coverage under COBRA. This is because insurance companies are very careful about taking on customers with a pre-existing condition. Either they won’t offer coverage at all, or they will offer it at a very high premium. By electing to continue your plan under COBRA, there will be no lapse in coverage between your old employer’s plan and your next employer’s plan, so the pre-existing condition qualification will not apply.

If you have young children, you should probably continue your coverage under COBRA. As adults, we may be willing to take the risk ourselves, but nobody wants to subject their children’s health to the risk of not being able to see a doctor affordably. So, COBRA coverage may be expensive, but peace of mind when it comes to your children is worth the cost.

Otherwise, if the household is comprised of healthy adults, you may be able to go without the coverage without incident. If you only go to the doctor once every few years for a checkup and almost never have a real medical problem, you’re a good candidate to assume the risk that comes with no coverage. However, always remember that there is an inherent risk in that – don’t climb any mountains or participate in intense athletic activity.