COBRA - a horror - and I'm one of the lucky ones

I lost my job (as many of you on here know). However, I'm one of the lucky ones. I was actually able to afford 2 COBRA payments ($550.00 each!!!) HORRIFIC, to have to pay that per month.

THANKS TO OBAMA and his stimulus bill, which will cover 65% of that, those 2 COBRA payments are now sufficient to carry me through many more months of health coverage, until the health coverage from my new job kicks in. People that have gaps in their coverage and have to get a new check-up to obtain coverage, often end up with their pre-existing health issues omitted, so often it's the people that are sickest and can least afford it, that cannot afford COBRA.

In any case, while I sat home thinking how lucky I was that I had continuing health coverage, it also gave me grief to think of these things:

1) What I would've done if we hadn't elected Obama. Would I have had $520 a month to continue to pay through the end of summer? NO. Yet that would've been my situation if we'd had Palin and McCain. I would've ended up without health care because frankly, I could not afford many months at $550/month.

2) The suffering of those who cannot do not even have the money to pay the exhorbitant COBRA payments. I know people like that. There are many!

3) Those people who haven't had health care for years. I know people like that as well. It's horrible.

4) Those people who are terminally ill AND have no health care. This is unconscionable.

When are we going to have single-payer health care? Do we have to move to other countries to get it? When will our people stop having to suffer? When will our taxes do things in our benefit, rather than be thrown by the wayside in invented wars for the purpose of enriching the already-rich?

And it is very sad that you're "lucky" to be able to pay cobra. Sad that this is what our country offers us.

It's sad that you're unemployed and have to spend money on making hte insurance companies richer.

I think I'm going to start reading Michael Moore more often and getting involved. If we don't do something drastic, this theft of the middle class will continue.

I hope you don't have to test your luck by actually having to make a claim on that insurance. Remember, all the people in "Sicko!" had health insurance.

committing theft upon, isn't it?

At least they announced it last fall:

November 09, 2006 03:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time
UnitedHealthcare Introduces Affordable Health Insurance Program to Cleveland’s Uninsured Workers

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH):

* New Belay program offers simple, affordable health insurance solutions
* Employed uninsured can have security and protection against catastrophic events
* In Ohio, 12 percent of residents do not have health insurance
They are working, but they are uninsured. Cleveland has one of the highest rates of single, working, uninsured people in the United States including more than 129,000 individuals ages 35 to 54. This demographic group cited several barriers to purchasing health insurance including affordability, ineligibility for a group plan, complacency, and lack of satisfactory options available.

To combat these barriers, UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) company, is piloting a health insurance program, Belay, designed to reach these individuals ages 35 to 54 who are working and uninsured and provide them with a solution for their health and financial security.

The Belay program offers two affordable, direct-to-consumer health insurance plans, Belay 100 and Belay HSA 100. In Cleveland, costs for the new Belay plans range from $78 to $109 per month. In comparison, average COBRA premiums range from $200 to $500+ per month based on employer, insurer and plan selected, according to Benefits Administration Services, July 1, 2006 Bulletin.
http://www.belayhealth.com/

More: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061109005861&newsLang=en

The article only talks about it in Ohio, but it may be available elsewhere. That announcement is all I ever heard about it, but if it keeps people eligible for full coverage later it might be worth it.

They wanted $939 a month. We couldn't do it. President Obama's plan didn't come into existence till after the 30-day period, so we've been living without health insurance since the end of December. We both have preexisting conditions. Unless one of us gets a job with a corporation that has group coverage, we're screwed. We applied to Washington Basic Health, but they're cutting people off there now because of budget issues in the state. I wake up every morning now and wonder what we're going to do if one of us gets sick or hurt.

We will not have single-payer health care unless every citizen that has been affected by health insurance problems marches on Washington. Period. President Obama has already shown he's not willing to stand up to private insurance companies; he's also shown he's not willing to entertain a publicly funded option for all, either.

I am beginning to believe that we're alone here.

It applies to workers in companies larger than (15?)

DEFINITELY CHECK IT OUT.

take advantage of it?

:thumbsup:

don't pay any more in taxes than we do. I know, I lived abroad.

:cry:

If it weren't for healthcare insurance, I would probably quit my current job. I am close to finishing college, and will quit sooner or later, but I am hanging on simply due to healthcare insurance and the discounts it offers on my prescriptions. My COBRA costs would "only" be around $350, but I have heard about the government helping pay for these premiums. How does it all work? Does the program help pay for everyone on COBRA, or just people who have been laid off? Do you have to apply for it?

I thought I'd be paying 35% each month, right? But no, the COBRA managing company expects you to pay up front the full amount (or at least it did me!). I CALLED them and asked them if I should pay 35%. They said no. I had to pay the full amount.

Then when I'd paid TWO FULL AMOUNTS of $550.00, they still didn't say anything. I had to go looking on their website and call them several times to find out that that amount was ENOUGH to pay for the full amount for several months.

I am waiting for them to credit me back the overpayments due to the 65% discount for the last 2 months. MFSOBs. I hope insurance companies rot in hell.

They can "filter" out all the people most likely to need health care and take premiums from only the 'healthy' people. Every time someone is forced into the COBRA payments and can't continue them, they're put into the "preexisting conditions" filter if they're luck enough to find another job. Same goes for dependents. So, the insurance companies are only insuring those who, first and foremost, are healthy enough to hold a job and then pare down that group. It's fucking insane and predatory. Ghoulish.

even bigger thieves than banks, and that's big thievery!

A YEAR AGO.

We had already paid $2K when we were billed (I guess for the physician only, now that we review the bills)

We thought we were done with it, and that we had dodged a bullet. $2K is a lot, but we were expecting more. Then we went on with life and forgot about it.

Well, two weeks ago, a demand for immediate payment for $5K frigging dollars arrived in the mail, out of the blue.

I called about it, did some research, and indeed, this is perfectly legal for them to wait even longer to bill for medical services.

I dare say that I'm almost glad that this outrageous reminder of what it's like to be without health insurance arrived, now that we're covered but looking down the barrel at COBRA again unless things turn around at my husband's company.

2 hours in the ER. I can see very easily how people rapidly lose everything due to lack of medical insurance.

It is a travesty, and I wonder how closely liked the lack of affordable healthcare and foreclosures in this country might be.