• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Just got laid off, question about COBRA subsidy

T

the DRIZZLE

Platinum Member
I was given two weeks notice of my termination yesterday. They are listing my official termination date as 4/2/2010. The COBRA subsidy was recently extended for people laid off through 3/31/2010. It seems likely that congress will extend it again, but I'd rather not chance it. I'm going to ask them to change the official date to 3/31/2010. Is my understanding of the situation correct here? If they do change the date to the 31st does anyone know if I can claim a partial week of unemployment?
 
Unemployment starts 1-week after you were laid off.

COBRA subsidy means you pay 35% of the premium and is good for 9-months, with an extra 6-months extended if you qualify.

Dates keep changing as the Jobs bills keep on passing.
 
the DRIZZLE said:
I was given two weeks notice of my termination yesterday. They are listing my official termination date as 4/2/2010. The COBRA subsidy was recently extended for people laid off through 3/31/2010. It seems likely that congress will extend it again, but I'd rather not chance it. I'm going to ask them to change the official date to 3/31/2010. Is my understanding of the situation correct here? If they do change the date to the 31st does anyone know if I can claim a partial week of unemployment?
Click to expand...

COBRA allows you to sign up for medical coverage, at a much higher rate than what you were paying, but cheaper if you did it separatly.

Most medical providers extend your medical to the END of the month you were terminated.

If your term date is 4/2/2010.. then you should be covered to 4/31/2010.
if your term date is 3/31/2010.. then your coverage would end on 3/31/2010.

i see no benefit to moving BACK the term date.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as signed by Barack Obama includes a 65% subsidy to employees for COBRA-enabled insurance for up to 9 months after an involuntary termination (this has since been expanded to 15 months).

On March 3, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Temporary Extension Act of 2010. The Act extends COBRA subsidy eligibility to employees who lost their jobs due to no fault of their own between March 1 and 31, 2010.

Two different bills have been proposed to extend the COBRA subsidy:

The House of Representatives passed a bill to extend the COBRA subsidy through April 30, 2010.

The Senate passed a bill to extend the COBRA subsidy through December 31, 2010.
 
guyver01 said:
If your term date is 4/2/2010.. then you should be covered to 4/31/2010.
if your term date is 3/31/2010.. then your coverage would end on 3/31/2010.
Click to expand...

I know that when I was "terminated" (permanently laid off), the coverage ended the day that I was terminated, not 30 days later. Not sure about other company practices.
 
Fmr12B said:
Unemployment starts 1-week after you were laid off.

COBRA subsidy means you pay 35% of the premium and is good for 9-months, with an extra 6-months extended if you qualify.

Dates keep changing as the Jobs bills keep on passing.
Click to expand...
Is this the premium negotiated by the employer and the previously employee-selected insurer?

For instance, let's say my employer offers insurer A, B and C and I choose B. The premium the B levies to the employer is X. Are you saying I'd be responsible for 35% of X regardless of what the employer previously passed onto me a benefit cost?

I've often wondered about this as I went online looking at similar coverages compared to what my employer offered to me. For instance, I searched through insurance brokers plans from BCBS, which at the time I had through my employer.

For me and my personal situation, the cost to me to get it off the street was about $2500/year. Now compare this to what my employer claimed it cost them to offer it to me ($10-15K!!!) and something just didn't make sense.

So, before one goes thinking that COBRA is the better deal, how about spending some time getting quotes online for comparable coverage plans? You might just be surprised.
 
Cobra can get MAD expensive. As an alternative look into blue cross, or Kaiser if you are in their area of coverage. You can find some affordable insurance with a bit of poking around.
 
Most medical insurance coverages continue through either the end of the month or the end of the pay period.

Life insurance coverages will cease of the date of termination.

Originally, COBRA was a continuation of your policy, with you also paying the employer's portion as well as your own.

Now, with the social subsidies, they are trying to have the taxpayer pick up (most of)the employer's portion.

Many employer plans are higher in cost than a minimal coverage plan (everything is bundled in). As stated above, shop around.
 
Engineer said:
I know that when I was "terminated" (permanently laid off), the coverage ended the day that I was terminated, not 30 days later. Not sure about other company practices.
Click to expand...

If you've paid your premium for that month it should cover you through the end of the month.
 
rasczak said:
Cobra can get MAD expensive.
Click to expand...

That was pre-Stimulus bill. Because of the stimulus and subsequent bills most people will pay less for health insurance on COBRA than they did when they were employed. Like me.

I'd normally be paying $467/mo for individual COBRA coverage. Instead I pay $163/mo and will for 9-15 months depending on my developing situation.
 
BarkingGhostar said:
Is this the premium negotiated by the employer and the previously employee-selected insurer?

For instance, let's say my employer offers insurer A, B and C and I choose B. The premium the B levies to the employer is X. Are you saying I'd be responsible for 35% of X regardless of what the employer previously passed onto me a benefit cost?
Click to expand...

Yes; the employer can also add a ~2% fee, but I'm not sure how many actually do.

For me and my personal situation, the cost to me to get it off the street was about $2500/year. Now compare this to what my employer claimed it cost them to offer it to me ($10-15K!!!) and something just didn't make sense.

So, before one goes thinking that COBRA is the better deal, how about spending some time getting quotes online for comparable coverage plans? You might just be surprised.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that $2500/year health plan is not as good as the $10k+/year plan. But I'm a person of above average intelligence and I don't think I could look at two health insurance plans and tell you which is better. I could look at deductibles and premiums and co-pays, but that's just a small part of the picture.
 
mugs said:
Yes; the employer can also add a ~2% fee, but I'm not sure how many actually do.



I'm guessing that $2500/year health plan is not as good as the $10k+/year plan. But I'm a person of above average intelligence and I don't think I could look at two health insurance plans and tell you which is better. I could look at deductibles and premiums and co-pays, but that's just a small part of the picture.
Click to expand...

Just to add to that, besides the likely differences in the plan design offered, he was probably lower cost than the average covered employee, i.e. lower age male, no pre-existing conditions, non-smoker, in a lower cost geographic area etc.

His employer likely did not take any (or maybe a subset) of these factors into account and may have just used the same rates for everyone within the plan.
 
yuchai said:
Just to add to that, besides the likely differences in the plan design offered, he was probably lower cost than the average covered employee, i.e. lower age male, no pre-existing conditions, non-smoker, in a lower cost geographic area etc.

His employer likely did not take any (or maybe a subset) of these factors into account and may have just used the same rates for everyone within the plan.
Click to expand...

I do not think the employer can use those factors when determining premiums. The insure can look at the overall statistics from the employer. The employer negotiate a "bulk" rate with the insurer.
Variables to the employee are the options selected, # of adults and # of dependants and sometimes the deductible/copay
 
Common Courtesy said:
I do not think the employer can use those factors when determining premiums. The insure can look at the overall statistics from the employer. The employer negotiate a "bulk" rate with the insurer.
Variables to the employee are the options selected, # of adults and # of dependants and sometimes the deductible/copay
Click to expand...

You and yuchai are essentially saying the same thing.
 
JulesMaximus said:
If you've paid your premium for that month it should cover you through the end of the month.
Click to expand...

The held out money on my check until the last day and then cut me off at midnight. I can't even get subsidized COBRA at all because I've started my new job "before" I received my COBRA papers. Now I can either buy COBRA at full price (not sure that I can do that since I started my job???), get a private insurance policy or go without until I get insurance : 88 more days.
 
Obligatory OP is lazy and doesn't deserve government subsidized health insurance. Get a job you freaking slacker and quit leeching off the rest of us hard-workers!

😉
 
JulesMaximus said:
If you've paid your premium for that month it should cover you through the end of the month.
Click to expand...

This REALLY depends on the employer. The consulting firm I worked for covered through month end, but of all organizations, the insurer I worked for ended benefits at midnight following your last day. (Wasn't a health insurer, but still funny)
 
He's not necessarily worried about coverage for the month, but missing out on the 65% subsidy.

The date for newly unemployed people to get COBRA with the 65% subsidy was supposed to end at the start of this year or so (it was originally from ARRA/stimulus bill). I thought it was the DoD budget that extended the date but it might have only been the duration (from 9 to 15 months). Anyway in some way, the date has now been extended to 3/31/10.

So if you are unemployed by then, you only pay 35% of the COBRA premium (if your income is under $125k or so, then it may fall off). If you are laid off after that, assuming it's not extended again, you pay the full cost. As for what date your last day is, it's whatever your "termination date is". It's not the date you were notified, nor the last day your company covers your insurance (in my case it was end of month), but whatever the piece of paper you signed says is your final day of work. It sounds like OP's termination date is 4/2/10.

So to the OP, yeah seems like it would be HUGE help to have your termination date be before the 31st.

The cost for a single person is quite reasonable with the 65% subsidy. Otherwise, COBRA price is the real price, i.e. total price you + your company pays for your insurance while employed, plus up to 2% admin fee. For family policies, it's like $1000/mo. The subsidy is HUGE deal for most people.
 
Last edited:
Their health plan sucks but you will win since good guys are dumb.

gi-joe-cobra-commander-original.jpg
 
Engineer said:
The held out money on my check until the last day and then cut me off at midnight. I can't even get subsidized COBRA at all because I've started my new job "before" I received my COBRA papers. Now I can either buy COBRA at full price (not sure that I can do that since I started my job???), get a private insurance policy or go without until I get insurance : 88 more days.
Click to expand...

Get private health insurance at the very least. I would not want to be without coverage in this day and age in the event something catastrophic were to occur.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. After I brought the issue up HR gave me two choices. They can move the date up to the 31st so I am guaranteed the Federal Subsidy, or if I stay until Friday they will make up the difference every month so I get the same price. That seems nuts, but thats their offer. I would feel a lot more comfortable just getting the Federal subsidy so I don't have to worry about the company backing out. On the other hand I'd be giving up two days pay and if I stay until April 2 then I get all of April paid for by the company.

After tomorrow this will likely all be moot as the rumer is that the Senate is going to pass the house version of the extension before Congress leaves for recess. My plan is to stall on making a decision until the end of the day tomorrow so I can see if the extension passes or not.
 
Wow, that's a crazy offer all for two more days of your time. I recall the company I work for giving you a certain gross $ amount to cover COBRA if you weren't eligible for the the subsidy, but I don't remember it being that large.

I guess they don't think you'll be unemployed that long. 🙂

I'm single and my COBRA payment after subsidy is $178/mo. So them paying the difference is pretty hefty each month.

If it's a large established company, I couldn't imagine them trying to back out but I agree I'd be more comfortable getting the federal subsidy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top