Cobra Shmobra

[ourbluenation]

My 21 year old college student is taking a year off before she transfers to a four year university to save money for the next part of her higher education journey. Since she's not technically a student, she doesn't qualify for health insurance coverage under my spouses plan anymore. The administrator of the plan at my spouses job just informed me that all is not lost though because she could purchase the insurance through Cobra so that she could keep her coverage. Whew. We were all glad to hear that.

Then I asked how much the premium would be a month...

$461.48

College student will be signing up for 12 units of the 'ol under water basket weaving next semester at the local junior college.

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. COBRA is subsidized through the Stim Bill

The federal gov't is picking up 65% of COBRA payments for 9 months.

The person you talked with may not know that. Call them back and ask who their COBRA administrator is.

When I was laid off, I was told $350. I am paying $119. The person I talked to was in HR and the COBRA stim package was outside of her sphere of knowledge, only the total due.

[ourbluenation]

3. can you give me any more info on that...very interesting. Thx.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. It isn't a state thing, it is Federal.

If someone qualifies for COBRA, the Federal Government will pay 65% of their premiums for 9 months. At month 10, it goes to 100% to the covered. This also isn't voluntary being a Federal program under the stimulation bill.

Very few companies manage outplacement and COBRA and use a 3rd party provider to handle that as you have to send a check to the company every month. The third party files the monthly claims with the Federal Government to recoup the balance so that the company isn't out any $.

The HR person at my last job was a close friend, and she is very well read on the topic. When I asked her about Stim Bill benefits, she said she had heard about it, but wasn't sure, so had to quote me what the total is. Funny that - my COBRA was less than what I was paying monthly out of my check as my company paid 50% and I am paying 35% (for now). Every little bit helps!

Thats why I suggested asking who is the actual COBRA administrator. It may be internal, or a third party, but that is the person who knows the law and can give you the actual quote.

I did a quick google, so don't know anything about this particular site, but they are explaining it here: http://www.insurancenewsnet.org/html/HealthInsurance/2009/0309/Stimulus-to-Help-with-COBRA-Costs.html

Good luck!

:hi:

[Matariki]

2. Can't wait until that mandate kicks in...

I'm sure lots of the healthy youth of America will have $461.48 a month to keep our sinking healthcare system afloat

I'd LOL if it wasn't so damn tragic.