Help With Insurance?

[robyn]

With DH and I both starting new jobs in the next few weeks our insurance situation is getting complicated. My new job's benefits will start Feb 1. DD and I will be covered. DH's new job doesn't offer insurance, but instead reimburses 50% of his cost through the exchange. We are currently all covered through his insurance and will be until Dec. 31. DH starts his new job Dec. 28. So we will shop for insurance through the exchange for DH in the next couple of weeks. Because it's a job change I believe we don't have to comply with the December 15 deadline. Do we just buy 1 month of coverage through the exchange for DD and I as well, until my benefits start Feb 1? Is there a better or different way to do it? I wish I could start Dec 30 so DD and I could be covered through my job Jan 1 but there's just no way for me to leave my current job any sooner.

[awkwardpenguin]

You have to buy coverage by December 15th to get a January 1st effective date on the exchange. It might be different if your state runs their own exchange.

One option that people sometimes use is to go without insurance for a month and purchase COBRA retroactively if anything happens that means they need to use their insurance. COBRA gives you 60 days to sign up and the coverage is retroactive to when your job-based coverage ends, which is why that works.

If your break in coverage is less than 2 months, you don't pay a penalty for being without coverage.

[isabel]

We had a 3ish week break in coverage recently when DH switched jobs. He left his old job in early November and insurance at his new job wasn't effective until December 1. The cost for a month on my plan was really expensive and it didn't make a lot of sense to pay for it. We opted to elect cobra retroactively if we needed to. Thankfully, we did not.

Anyway, I don't know if that's an option for you, but it may be worth considering.

[sent]

Dec 13, 2015 23:05:58 GMT -5 awkwardpenguin said:

One option that people sometimes use is to go without insurance for a month and purchase COBRA retroactively if anything happens that means they need to use their insurance. COBRA gives you 60 days to sign up and the coverage is retroactive to when your job-based coverage ends, which is why that works.

If your break in coverage is less than 2 months, you don't pay a penalty for being without coverage.

This was exactly what we did.  DD's 18 month checkup fell during this period and I just paid the $175 office fee for that.  I did postpone the blood test for a few weeks with her doctor's permission until the coverage kicked in because it would be covered 100%, but if I had to I would've paid for it.  Maybe that would be a few hundred?  At the same time, 2 months of COBRA would've been $6K and we certainly did not "use" $6K worth of healthcare so this strategy luckily worked for us.  

[isabel]

Dec 14, 2015 0:52:14 GMT -5 sent said:

Dec 13, 2015 23:05:58 GMT -5 awkwardpenguin said:

One option that people sometimes use is to go without insurance for a month and purchase COBRA retroactively if anything happens that means they need to use their insurance. COBRA gives you 60 days to sign up and the coverage is retroactive to when your job-based coverage ends, which is why that works.

If your break in coverage is less than 2 months, you don't pay a penalty for being without coverage.

This was exactly what we did.  DD's 18 month checkup fell during this period and I just paid the $175 office fee for that.  I did postpone the blood test for a few weeks with her doctor's permission until the coverage kicked in because it would be covered 100%, but if I had to I would've paid for it.  Maybe that would be a few hundred?  At the same time, 2 months of COBRA would've been $6K and we certainly did not "use" $6K worth of healthcare so this strategy luckily worked for us.  

Our Doctor actually has an uninsured discount. DS needed a flu shot booster the month we weren't covered and it was like $12, as opposed to the $40 they bill for insurance.

[robyn]

Thanks guys! I didn't realize COBRA was an option if he resigned vs. being let go. We will definitely go that route. I also didn't realize there was that 2 month grace period, thanks for that awkwardpenguin! We have quite a bit left on our HSA from this year, so even if we have to pay OOP for something during January we could. I will get with DH and find a plan for him to start Jan. 1.