COBRA Journey

I literally started my WLS journey 3 days before Dh was laid-off. It was slightly unexpected, but still a shock. I know for those 3 days I kept praying that DH wouldn't lose his job until after my surgery, but that didn't happen.

Initially I thought my journey ended until I learned we had 6 weeks banked on our insurance. This insurance is covered through March 14th. I then called to find out what our COBRA payments would be ($247 a WEEK - major ouch!) and looked at our savings and decided I might still be able to pull this off.

Every doctor I saw I made sure they knew of the time crunch with the insurance.

I had my first PCP appointment Feb 5th. I luckily got a canceled surgical consult appointment 5 days later for Feb 10th. Again I told them of the time constraints. They said they'd help pu**** through but to possibly expect to pay 1-2 months of COBRA. UGH probably NOT possible! We have 7 children and unemployment payments are like way less than what we were making and not sufficient to keep us afloat. I contemplated State insurance but for some reason we don't qualify, which I don't get. So I decided to go as far as I possibly could with the insurance I have so at least the ball was rolling.

Feb 21st Psych Eval. That was even pushed up from the original March 18th date. I lucked out completely since the doctor decided to open a Saturday up the day after I made the appointment.  WooHoo!

Now, on February 17th the Stimulus plan was signed and I noticed in the news article that COBRA was part of this stimulus plan, but very little was explained other than I could possibly be paying 65% less than the $247 I had thought I'd be paying, but I am skeptical since it was very vague. Of course I'd rather pay $87 for insurance weekly than $247 a week. I'd even get twice as many weeks out of our savings for this insurance too!

Yesterday I tried looking up more information about this plan since the previous week hadn't caught up to the web-sites let alone the news. Any ways, I found some useful information for anyone who may be dealing with this or foresees this as a possibilty for them in the near future.

http://www.wnj.com/cobra_subsidies_and_extensions_under_the_ american_recovery_and_reinvestment_act_of_2009-2-19-2008/

COBRA premium subsidy

The Act includes COBRA subsidies for any employees (and their qualifying dependents) who lose their group health plan coverage because of an involuntary termination of employment between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. These individuals will be allowed to pay only 35% of the COBRA premium, with the employer (your company) paying the remaining 65%, which you will then deduct from your federal payroll taxes or, if necessary, obtain in refunds from the government. Curiously, the law does not define what “involuntary termination" means, though we hope for clarification from the Department of Labor or the Internal Revenue Service. (Keep in mind that characterizing a termination as an involuntary termination may have an impact on eligibility for certain benefits, such as unemployment benefits and severance benefits.) The subsidy does not apply to the continuation of health flexible spending accounts under COBRA.

The subsidy applies to periods of COBRA coverage that begin after February 17, 2009. A period of coverage is the monthly (or shorter) time period for which premiums are charged. If the period of coverage under your plan is a calendar month, your company will have to start providing the subsidy beginning March 1.

Basically if you lose your job through lay-offs your COBRA payments may just very well be affordable now!