California health
insurance
Health insurance
options in California
Cobra coverage in CaliforniaA Quick Introduction to
California Cobra and Cal-Cobra
Individual Family can be half the cost of Cobra if you're healthy
Make sure not to lose Cobra election window (more detail below)
Some Californian's may have a
Cal-Cobra extension period
(below)
You can generally "piece-meal" Cobra for any individual family member
|
Cobra and its California
expanded version, Cal-Cobra refer to a set of
laws that address the rights of employees coming
off of group health insurance plans. We can
quickly get bogged down in the legal speak
associated with any health-related law that
comes out of Congress but let's try to boil it
down so we can wrap our heads around the main
points and how it affects your options in the
California health insurance market.
Who is eligible for California Cobra
Coverage?
 First of all...in layman's
terms...what is Cobra? Essentially, Cobra is
continuation of group coverage available to you
and covered dependents after you leave a group
plan. You may be terminated or leave voluntarily. There are only a few reasons Cobra
might not be available such as termination due
to fraud or gross misconduct. Otherwise, if
the health plans was a qualified group plan and
remains intact, you
may have a Cobra option even if you were only on
the plan for 1 month. What exactly does this
mean?
Receiving and Electing Cobra Coverage
When you leave a group
plan, the carrier or company (depending on it's
size) will send you a Cobra option letter or
packet. You typically have 62 days from the
last date of
group health insurance (or upon
receiving the letter but the letter should state
the time-table) to elect Cobra with an effective
date retro-active back to the last date of
coverage (day after, actually). This way, you
can have continuous coverage. Be careful...if
you lapse this window without electing Cobra,
the option is gone and Cobra is very strict
about election and premium payment which brings
us to the next key point.
Comparing California Cobra and Individual
or Family insurance
With Cobra or Cal-Cobra,
you pay the monthly premium yourself and the
bills come directly to your address so make sure
the prior carrier or administrator has the
correct address on file. The premium is
typically 10% higher than what the carrier
charged the group for smaller group. Keep in
mind that Cobra election may provide a
qualifying event to change plans if other plans
were available to the group. You may use this
time to downgrade coverage for example since
California group health plans can be very
expensive. You can also piece meal Cobra in
most situation. For example, if you're in good
health and can qualify for
individual California
health insurance but your spouse has health
issues (regardless of whom the employee was),
you can typically get Cobra for just the family
members who might not qualify for individual
health plans. It's best to break out the price
for each family member with your prior carrier
or HR department if you need to piece-meal
coverage.
Cal-Cobra can provide an additional 18
months after Cobra ends if eligible
Cobra typically lasts up to
18 months but you may also have a Cal-Cobra
extension which can extend it to another 18
months. The carrier or administrator should be
able to confirm if a Cal Cobra extension is
available. Just make sure to use that
terminology so they know what you're talking
about. Some situations (death, divorce, etc)
may automatically result in a 36 month Cobra
period anyway. The coverage offered by Cobra
will be identical to the plan you had through
the company although the company may change
plans (due to rate increase for example) during
the course of the year and this may affect your
plan as well.
Group versus individual rates and health
status are key to comparing Cobra
In terms of comparing
Cobra
and shopping for your own California individual
health insurance plan, individual will usually
be quite a bit cheaper for comparable coverage.
Until 2014, there's the question of qualifying
based on health but if we can qualify, we'll
generally get better rates on the individual
market. Just make sure not to lapse Cobra or
the 62 day window before having a solid written
confirmation of your approval on the individual
plan for all family members at the rate you
want. If the company group plan is cancelled or
the company goes out of business, the Cobra plan
disappears as well. You may then be eligible
for HIPAA coverage. We're happy to walk through
your situation to see what is the best option.
Related Articles:
Piece mealing coverage to get the best
rates
New Guaranteed issue coverage for kids
HIPAA information
Cobra versus Individual health insurance
|
