Health Insurance Blog

The baby boomer generation (ages 45 to 64) is worried about losing their health insurance, and the current economy is even more cause for concern. Many baby boomers have been either laid off or forced to retire early, and with that comes the loss of their employer sponsored health insurance plan. Meanwhile, they’re not yet old enough to enroll in Medicare.

There are still several options available to people in this age group, says Emily Brandon of U.S. News and World Report. They include:

1. Continuing your former employer’s coverage through COBRA, which they are required to offer unless they go out of business. However, you will have to cover the entire cost of the plan, plus a 2% administrative fee, yourself.
2. Getting on your spouse’s health insurance, if they have continued to work and their employer allows it.
3. Finding another job and continuing to work until you turn 65. Some companies even offer health insurance benefits to part-time employees working as little as 20 hours per week.
4. If you’re lucky to have worked for a firm that offers health insurance coverage to retirees (a steadily declining percentage), take advantage of it. Don’t rest easy, though; many companies are failing to keep their promises and are shifting a higher portion of health care costs onto retired workers.
5. Buy yourself individual insurance. Individual health insurance policies can be expensive, with premiums of over $300 per month according to the Commonwealth Fund. It also may not cover you if you have a chronic, pre-existing condition (and will be even more costly if it does), but if you are relatively healthy it may be your only option. A high-deductible plan could save you money on premiums, although you run the risk of catastrophic out-of-pocket costs. If you go down this route, make sure to research the most affordable health insurance quotes.

There is also the option of forgoing health insurance, but it’s not recommended. You’d either have to cover all of your medical expenses out-of-pocket, or go without some needed medical care.

Barack Obama and the Dems are considering major expansions to the existing government assisted health care programs.  One of the changes being discussed would subsidize employers’ expenses for temporary continuing health insurance coverage to laid-off and retired workers and their dependents, as mandated by COBRA, and allow workers who lose jobs that did not come with health insurance benefits to be eligible for health coverage via Medicaid.

Golden Rule, a United HealthCare company, is offering a unique insurance product.  The plan allows workers, who fear that they might get laid-off and subsequently lose their employer-sponsored health coverage, to pay a fee in order to be covered by a Golden Rule health insurance policy in case they lose their job and become uninsured.

The cost savings for the member would come into play when the monthly premiums required to be covered by Golden Rule would be substantially less than health coverage from COBRA.

For Example, COBRA replacement coverage for a husband and wife could cost $500-$800 per month, whereas similar coverage via the Golden Rule health plan would cost $385 per month once enrolled + $77 per month now for the right to access the plan later.

The plan is called UnitedHealth Continuity.  It is currently available in 25 states, and over time, Golden Rule plans to make it available in all 40 states where they currently do business.

The cost savings seem pretty speculative unless you would expect to be on COBRA for several months.  If you didn’t get laid off, you would be spending $77 a month for nothing, although I guess that is what insurance is all about….peace of mind.

Utah health insurers announced a new health insurance plan, called NetCare, for Utah residents who are between jobs.  NetCare is designed to be a more affordable health insurance option than COBRA coverage.

Cost savings from the COBRA alternative would be derived from NetCare not being required to include all the health benefits that are currently required by other Utah health insurance plans.

NetCare would be available as an individual plan or group plan for up to 12 months for Utah residents transitioning off their employer-sponsored health plan.  After the initial 12 month period, members would have to reapply as individuals.

The focus on NetCare will be providing beneficiaries with incentives for maintaining healthy lifestyles, and utilizing preventive care.

eHealthinsurance has launched an educational website (www.cobralearning.com) designed to help consumers learn more about COBRA, as well as COBRA alternatives.

eHealthinsurance recently undertook a national survey which opened up their eyes as to how uninformed the Amercian public is about both COBRA and individual health insurance options.  The findings of the survey were so profound that eHealthinsurance undertook a project to help educate consumers faced with tough decisions about their health care.

Findings include:

• Roughly 40% of adults surveyed new little or nothing about COBRA
• 60% didn’t know that individual health insurance options were generally less expensive
• 45% were not aware that individual health plans could provide similar benefits as COBRA

Additionally and probably the most compelling findings from eHealth’s perspective was that

• 52% thought COBRA was their only option for health insurance coverage
• 30% of people who refused COBRA coverage when given the option decided to go without health coverage and were uninsured

The general lack of knowledge in the marketplace about COBRA health coverage as well as indiviudal health insurance options struck a chord with eHealth and they decided that launching an educational website would be important to make Americans faced with making important health insurance decisions more informed about their options.  The decison to launch this educational initiative wasn’t 100% altuistic however as eHealth stands to gain quite a bit from consumers understanding that their are more affordable health insurance options than COBRA, and they are the best place to shop for them online.

COBRA allows you to temporarily continue your employer sponsored health coverage (albeit at a relatively high cost) in the event that you are laid-off or otherwise become out of work.  However, while continuing health coverage may be right for some people, there are other options that you can and should consider.

COBRA will likely be the best option for you if

1) You or a member of your family is currently pregnant.

or

2)  You or a family member have a pre-existing condition that would make it difficult to be accepted in an individual health policy, or would include a rider that would not cover treatment related to the health condition.

However, If you and family members seeking health insurance coverage are relatively healthy there are other options that you should consider that will likely be much more affordable and with a comparable set of benefits.

Alternatives

1.) You can compare individual and family health insurance plans side-by-side here at healthinsurancesort.com and select the plan that best fits your needs.

2.) If you alone have a pre-existing condition, you can stay on COBRA, but enroll your other family members in an indiviudal health plan to save money.

3.) If you believe that you will be unemployed for a short period of time (less than 6 months) you can enroll in a short term health plan.  However, this is a more risky proposition if your unemployment lasts longer than expected.

4.) Research whether you can get health coverage through any association groups for which you are a member.

Not all alternatives will be right for every family’s situation, but there are options available to consider.