Yet another COBRA/future insurance question
Posted By: Another KSMT on 2007-08-14
In Reply to:
I'm reading a new plan that my company is probably going to switch to. I just hired on and was going to sign up for COBRA so I wouldn't have a lapse in coverage for my pre-existing conditions etc. Here is what this new plan says "This exclusion period may be reduced by the number of days of your prior creditable coverage. The plan is not required to take into account any days of creditable coverage that precede a break in coverage of 63 days or more."
So, can you please interpret what this is telling me? If I get insurance from my new company prior to 63 days after the end of my previous insurance are my pre-existing conditions covered? I was on insurance from the previous company for close to two years.
Thanks!!!
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COBRA is not a specific insurance sm
policy. It is simply a continuation of what you already had with your employer, except you pay all the costs. That is what you need to find out, how much the full coverage will cost you without an employer contribution.
Again, COBRA is not insurance, just an extension of sm
any insurance you currently have. So while COBRA may be cheaper that whatever, it is exactly what you have had with an employer, just YOU have to pay for it.
I cannot understand why people think COBRA is a specific insurance policy. IT IS NOT. It is a government policy that allows you to still maintain you current insurance, with you paying for it, for a certain amount of time.
I dont think you have a set time to have had the insurance before your eligible for COBRA
My advice is to apply right now with your local Blue Cross or Blue Shield and get one of those major medical plans ($5000+ deductible) to kick in the second to quit and your other insurance ends. Keep it until you get new insurance with an employer and you wont have a gap in coverage, thus avoid pre-existing waiting periods etc..Getting one of those cheap plans is a A LOT cheaper than COBRA..COBRA's whole thing is trying to discourage you from keeping it..It worked for me. They wanted like $600 a month for me to go on it. No way.. I went to a BC plan and paid $100 a month for a high deductible plan. It's just my opinion, others may feel differently.
Shop around before getting cobra. If you are leaving a job, you can get cobra. I am in the process
Cobra is almost $600 for you and children, I found a month to month coverage by shopping on internet, covers 2 visits a year (I only need it 3 months) and is less than $300. Less expensive coverage than cobra is out there
No, the employer doesn't pay COBRA, you pay COBRA directly.
:(
I bet other insurance carriers have insurance for their employees. Why not Wal-Mart? nm
:+
Anyone been on COBRA
I am trying to figure out how expensive COBRA is. If anyone has been on COBRA, would you give me an idea of what it cost you? I am trying to find an average cost here. My job has been terminated as of 08/31/07, due to outsourcing in-house transcription to a service. I need to make many decisions on a very short timeframe. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
cobra
My husband and I are on cobra right now. For two of us with dental it's costing us $821 per month thru Aetna.
COBRA
Once you have insurance, you should be able to get COBRA. The length of time should no matter.
COBRA
I had to use COBRA for my daughter a few years ago when my husband died. It's my understanding that you have until 45 days after regular insurance terminates to decide to take COBRA. In her case, anything within that 45 days ws covered by the regular insurance. I was also able to take the COBRA on a month by month basis, not have to pay in advance. I suppose plans may be different, but it ws my understanding COBRA has standards under the insurance act. You might have to speak to the plan administrator to find out for sure. Good luck!
COBRA
I do believe you have to pay it through the date you actually sign up, so that would mean you could drop it in February. Here is something to consider - if you cannot afford the COBRA payments and your ER bill is quite substantial, the hospital collections office will sometimes pay the COBRA for you and then bill you for the premiums paid. I used to work in collections and we often did this when we could see we would benefit by doing so. We could sometimes pay $700 in COBRA premiums, but collect $7000; therefore, even if we never collected from the patient on the $700, we still came out ahead.
COBRA
Actually, that's correct. COBRA does not legally apply if there are less than 19 people. I am not sure what state you are in, but in IL they have a state mandate that picks up for smaller companies, but the coverage time isn't as long as COBRA.
COBRA
Have you tried Alli? The reason I ask is because I just started taking it myself. I did contact my doctor's office before taking it though, as I am Wellbutrin and Effexor, as well as Evista, Advair, albuterol, and take Tylenol ES quite often. She said that even with all these meds, it is safe. I have not experienced any adverse reactions to the Alli as far as my other meds go.
However, you need to really read up on the Alli program, including the side effects that some people have experienced.
Maybe it's worth a shot!!
When do I need to sign up for COBRA? sm
I turned in my notice on 6/28 and quit two weeks later. I have received my last paycheck, reimbursement for PTO, a letter saying someone will be calling for an exit survey, and even my shipping labels to return my computer, etc. but have yet to receive any information about COBRA and I want to sign up! It is now almost the end of the month and I'm worried that I have to get my money in by the first of the month. Does anyone know? I don't want to get stuck with a pre-existing condition problem.
Thanks!
That's exactly right. TAKE THE COBRA, even though the $$ is high.
At age 64, I have had to take COBRA, it's $926 a MONTH
I took a job with a medium-sized MTSO last year in September, qualified with 90 days above their set quota to get benefits, my share was about $75 biweekly. Then my work type dried up, they tried to force me to do clinic which I would not do. No one will cover a 64 year old woman because you better believe everybody has something pre-existing by the time they get into their 60's. I have to keep the policy through the COBRA until July next year when I'll be 65 and get Medicare. I never wanted to be 65 so much in my life! I have had to work 7 days a week on production to make enough money to meet my mortgage, regular household bills, and now this $926 COBRA. I'm lucky I found a service that will let me work my fingers to the bone. I've been paying this amount since April, please say a little prayer for me, I'm 5 months into this, I have 10 months more to go. Then I can cut back to 5 days a week, it's going to feel really good when that happens and I can do my errands and cleaning one day a week and have one real "day off" a week. I think my COBRA is so high because it is a really good BC/BS policy, and the actual cost of the coverage is horrific. Whatever you do don't let your coverage lapse. You actually will have almost 2 months to get the first payment to them, but if you are 1 cent short or 1 day late, you are out of luck. P.S. This treatment was the company that brags "you'll be proud to tell your friends about us." Don't ever believe what a recruiter tells you about the work type you'll be doing or the amount of work they have for you to do. Good luck to all the Old-Timers out there, we're all going to need all the luck we can get. Prayers would be even better.
Wise
Another Cobra inquiry
Does anyone know how long you have to be on the insurance to qualify for cobra. I did have a lapse in my prior coverage but have no pre-existing conditions so wasn't worried. Have now had the insurance at my employment about 30 days but am thinking about leaving, does anyone know if I will be eligible for Cobra?
Cobra question
I know this was recently discussed here but for some reason I cannot locate it. I have been at my job a little over 4 months, have had 2 insurance payments taken out of my check. I am really thinking seriously about leaving - does anyone know if I will be eligible for Cobra or do you have to have the insurance for a minimum amount of time. TYIA.
Check out the COBRA
I'm so sorry to hear about your friend losing her job. Please tell her to check out the COBRA rulings on insurance policies. You normally have a 30-day window after termination ...so if she can get her surgeries in before that 30 days is up...the insurance should pay.
Can I do just 1 month of COBRA? sm
I'm wondering if I can sign up for just 1 month of COBRA health insurance after the fact. I'm nearing my COBRA election cut off. My last day of regular insurance was 10/31. I would just like to pay for COBRA for the month of November, but the paperwork says you must pay all months up to the day of election. I had an ER visit in November, which is why I only want to pay November, but if I made the COBRA election today, I'd have to make 3 months of payments. Has anyone ever done this? I thought maybe I could just send in a payment for the 1 month with a note that I didn't want it after that. TIA. I know I should probably ask the plan administrator, but I'm embarassed.
COBRA QUESTION
I have been covered by COBRA since September 2007 with dental coverage. I just received my new card today and I do not have dental, and my last dental appointment and treatment are not being paid. Can they do this? Drop coverage that I already have. To top it off they are charging me $20.00 more a month.
My husband is covered under AARP; however, I cannot get on his insurance even though I will be 50 in one month due to being overweight. They say I have to lose at least 70 pounds.
Does anyone know of an insurance company that would insure me for less than what I am paying COBRA?
Thanks for your response. If I opt out of the cobra coverage,
does my current coverage stop immediately (last employment day), at the end of the current pay period, or at the end of the final pay period? Thanks!
Cobra takes precedence
Divorce is considered a "qualifying event" and would entitle you to 18 months (or 36 months in certain cases) of coverage through COBRA where you would pay the premium. You can make an inquiry to the human resources department at his employer if there are children involved and the rate is the same for him to cover himself, the kids and you, and in that event, you would continue to have coverage without invoking COBRA. The best thing is to read the policy and direct any questions to HR.
good luck
COBRA is simply an extension of your sm
prior insurance, and you pick up whatever the company was paying, and pay all costs. COBRA extends you current insurance when you lose your job, but YOU pay all of the charges, same insurance, though.
Completed COBRA recently-VLM
The following speaks of my personal experience with Cobra - Insurance premiums out-of-pocket for any reason are an expensive undertaking (they are also tax deductible if you meet deduction requirements). I was appreciative of having the option of Cobra because of my personal circumstances. If you are considering going without health insurance for any amount of time, I would suggest that you may be gambling with more than your health. One emergency surgery or health crisis not covered can cost you everything - I know because it happened to me. Hospitals and physicians are bound by no debt code - they will sue you and take your home, business, car, pots, pans and the shirt off your back if they can redeem a penny for it. They are not required to accept a payment plan. My hospital told me that an indefinite payment offered by me to start of $100 every 2 weeks to start was not worth their time and effort. A bit of trivia - I was employed by this same hospital for 10+ years.
COBRA guidelines are set by the Fed - all rules must be followed to the letter by all parties. My premium was 120% of what my original premium while employed with the company was. I went the entire 18 months during which my premium was raised once - without warning - if you fail to pay the premium exact to the penny, by the exact postmarked indicated date, you are terminated from the plan. I was nearly terminated with the premium increase which arrived in a separate envelope along with the premium notice. There are no exceptions to the rules governing Cobra - this works sometimes in your favor and sometimes in the ex-employer's favor. After the first premium increase, I called 1 time each month on the same day and asked if there was a premium increase - the point being don't take anything at face value when dealing with this issue.
These guidelines also direct what happens when your Cobra involvement ends or if you terminate it before the 18 months are finished - there are also exclusions which may make the amount of Cobra coverage available longer than 18 months. The day your Cobra ends, you have a set number of days to get involved with another plan - if you choose Cobra, make sure someone explains what happens when the plan ends, and if you are told "nothing" or "you are on your own," ask someone else who knows that they are talking about.
If you choose Cobra, you need to speak to whomever administers the plan - some companies hire a third party, others do not. Make sure you get all the facts.
There are obvious negatives but one thing is an absolute positive, if you meet all the guidelines each month and pay the correct premium on time, you will have continuation of your health coverage and time to plan for the future. My research led me to understand that I might find a cheaper interim plan, but I might just as easily lose that plan for any number of reasons, leaving me high and dry. I personally could not risk this. I saw an earlier comment about not letting coverage lapse and preexisting conditions - If there is a plan anywhere which does not have a preexisting clause of some type for every new enrollee, I would be very surprised. I talked to about 14 carriers over 6 months. Not having a lapse in coverage or not exceeding the cushion of days provided by Cobra between policies is most beneficial, I feel, when you are applying for new coverage on your own - Companies are much more receptive to someone who has existing coverage as opposed to someone without, for obvious reasons. However, this varies from ins co to ins so and you need to do your homework.
One last thing, I cannot speak for every state, but I called our State Insurance Commish - wonderful lady whose staff went way out of the way to make sure I was fully clear on what my Cobra rights were. These people were totally on my side! I highly recommend this phone call to anyone trying to get health insurance. The state is not allowed to recommend an insurance co; however, they do have ratings and data that you may find very helpful in choosing coverage.
I spent many, many hours learning about and personally experiencing this process - I hope you find something helpful here. Whatever happens, I wish you the best of luck!
Again, call Cobra. Google for #. You are not the
x
The majority of them will be cheaper than Cobra.
Go through your local yellow pages and look for insurance companies who advertise health insurance and start calling. Call several so you can compare rates. Your weight issues are going to make your premium higher than it would if you were a normal weight.
PS --COBRA IS A BANDAID NOTHIING more
When, OH when are you baby whiners gonna grow up!!! AARP is a bandaid, COBRA is a bandaid and when the whole HIPPA thing came into play the docs had a FIT!!!
Now, younguns you are seeing as "PATIENTS" what is going on -- have HUBBY WORK OR GET WELFARE
BTW -- workin ONE job and grossed 50K
You can get it by COBRA, that is what they told me, couldn't afford it. nm
nm
on COBRA at YOUR expense..that wasn't the question.
nm
jude is right. Cobra may not be cheap, but it's cheaper than the surgery.
.
Good point. I've never done the Cobra because it was outrageous. I also did what you call a "b
overlapsed. I liked a cheap individual policy up ($7500 deducticle) before I lost my coverage..and kept the cheap policy until the new kicked in..
Compared the price offered by Cobra with a local BC or Regence Blue Shield plan. Chances are..
If you have a lot of medical issues your preminum wont be pretty but if it's temporary go with an extremely high deductible if you can. I have one that is $7500 deductible but has a $25 office visit copay and prescription coverage so it helps me since I just go to the doctor. Now, if you needed surgery or something that would be different.
future of VR
My personal opinion is that for now only some companies will use it but eventually it will become more predominant like all technology, i.e., cassettes to mini-cassettes to C-phones, etc.; as well as manual typewriters to electric to memory typewriters to computers. It seems to be something people either love or hate, but I do believe it is here to stay, though not take over.
Future-Net - NM
X
In the future you should try
doing a catchy flyer with pertinent info and faxing it. This works much better. Most of your mailers probably went in the trash without being opened. If you do a flyer, try using phrases like -will beat your current Transcriptionist rate- you WILL get calls. You can bargain from there.
I have a friend who works in a doctor's office and a drug rep gave them a list of phone numbers and fax numbers for all physicians in the area. If you can get one of these, just go down the list and fax 10 or 15 back to back at a time. I got several calls.
MT future
I have ben doing transcription for 7 years and ASR editing for about 6 months. From what I see, it will be a very, very long time before it is perfected. Honestly, transcription has not been lucrative for me in the past and although pay is slightly lower than transcribing, I have not seen much of a diffence to my bottom line.
MT future
sorry about typos, been a long day!
future
unfortunely, seems to work well for radiology...hospital probably a safer bet for future work.
there is editing needed, but personally would rather type thanlisten and correct. and many self edit anyway.
no future in MT
I agree. Itis the same old crap everywhere you go. Lousy pay, no raises, etc. I've worked for several agencies and it is only same old routine.
since i'm not sure about the future of MT
I've gone back to school as well. I'm completely torn as to what I want to do, i'm back and forth, and the past two years have been taking courses for nutrition and psychology, and cannot decide between the two. When I was a soph in HS I knew I wanted to do something with psychology, but here it is 15 years later, when I've decided to go for it, and its just brutal, the studying, the work on top of a full time job. I SOOO wish I would have just started 15 years ago, in that direction. I've always had a full time job and moved out at a young age, so just took the technical college route and learned MTing.
I'm looking at about 10 years of college because I can only go part-time, to be a clinical psychologist. I'm thinking of just going for the nutrition. I love working with food, time flies when i'm in the kitchen and I love watching people enjoy what i've made. I just know its a stressful job, you're on your feet a lot, and its more about speed than anything. I went to the library today and bought a book "can you stand the heat" all about the working conditions of a chef. I know I do not have it in me to be in school the next 10 years, i'm sorry, maybe if I were independently wealthy and could just focus on that. Becoming a chef will take less than three years. I will do MT'ing as long as its around though, as I enjoy working independently.
Go to the library, there are books that fit your personality type with a specific job, and then a list of the pros and cons, the money you would make. Just really research it. If its what you want to do the rest of your life, make sure its something that will make you happy.
Future-Net
I do work for Future-Net and this is what they do.
I'm sure your future will be
xx
Is there a future for me as a IC MT...
Hello! I'm new here but any advice would be welcomed. I haven't worked as a full-time MT in nine years. Mostly I've done Pathology at a hospital in Las Cruces, NM. I would like to get back into the MT field so I've purchased the SUM Advanced CD, which I am currently working on, and 19 practice dictation tapes from "Absolute Experience". I have also just started a workbook entitled, "The Language of Medicine." After I've finished all this, is there a future for me as an independent contractor MT? This is really the only job that pays well that I can do from home. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance! Shelley P.S. I took a test this week through a company called StatIQ in Albuquerque and I was surprised that I scored 94% (since it has been so long). However, you must score 98% to secure a job.
Why not? Don't you think that even future - sm
programmers, code writers and technical engineers are warned that a lot of U.S. work is being sent to other countries?
Future Net
No YOG - Your Office Genie was sold to MQ. FutureNet had most of the old YOG employees. I quit because I did not want to work for MQ.
Might try it in future...
but for 30 years have done my straight-8 on 2nd shift, 3-11 or thereabouts. I'm up at the crack of dawn and love having the daylight hours to be outside and get so much done. I will admit that some nights typing can be sOOOOOO long, though.
Future-Net
Does anyone know anything good or bad about Future-Net I have been accepted for a position with them and want to know what you think. Thanks in advance.
Kathy
FUTURE REFERENCE
try www.fda.gov in the future, great help for all FDA approved meds
The future of transcription....
Actually, it's listed in job future forecasting as a growing field, in light of the aging Baby Boomers. There's one thing for sure in this world, people will get old and sick. As far as voice recognition, I think it will fall by the wayside just as soon as people realize that it has very limited realistic possibilities for quickly producing a quality document. It will NEVER happen and I've said it all along. A "few" doctors who are very committed have made it work in their own practice, but as my eye doctor told me (who tried it a while back for his office dictation), "I don't have time to fuss with it." He said that if we going to have to hire someone to make it right, since he didn't have time to make sure it was right himself, then he might as well just have someone transcribe it.
The last factor in the availability of experienced MTs is the pay. It has gone continually down in the last 10 years. How can you expect to hire someone to do something which is very specialized and pay them peanuts? If it were a job where people thought they could make a good income, they'd pursue the field. But the word is out that it's no more than sweat shop wages in many places, so why bother? And I agree with you about mentoring. The hospital I work for (at home) does hire a newbie at a time and train them. But that's increasingly rare as the almighty dollar dictates everything these days.
A - No future in this profession.
Get a 4-year degree and open up your options.
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