What happens if my wife loses health ins?

[Heath09]

I own my own business and my wife's company pays for her health insurance. While she is fully paid for, the company also pays mine for an additional fee. In case each state is different, live outside Erie, PA. In the event my wife were to be fired, how can I buy insurance, in the middle of a calendar year, so we can stay in the same health network with our regular doctors? Does snyone know if I can get insurance the same day (IF) she's fired so we don't have a gap in coverage? My wife is likely not going to be fired but we are the type that would rather be safe than sorry. Can anyone help?
Thank you.

[phantom]

First of all, you typically pay for insurance a month at at time, so if your wife leaves her current employer for any reason, you should be covered through the end of the month. Then, you have several days (60?) from the time the old insurance ends to purchase new insurance. As long as you pay for the premiums starting from the time your old coverage ends till the present, that counts as not having a gap in insurance. Losing insurance because of job loss counts as a qualifying event that enables you to sign up for insurance outside of the open enrollment period. So, there's no need to worry about it happening in the middle of the year.

If your wife were to leave her employer for any reason (including being fired), you two probably would be eligible to keep the same insurance via COBRA for a period of several months. Your premiums would go up because your wife's employer is paying all of her premium and likely paying part of yours, and using COBRA you would have to pay the full thing. COBRA can be shockingly expensive, but it can be better than losing your insurance. Of course, if your wife's employer were to cease to exist or choose another insurance plan, COBRA wouldn't be able to help you keep the same insurance. Since you're in PA, if your wife's employer has fewer than 20 employees, technically, you would be covered by Mini-COBRA instead of COBRA.

Prior to the passage of Obamacare, my experience in PA was that, since I had a pre-existing condition, I was better off using COBRA than shopping for insurance on the open market. If not for my pre-existing condition, the open market would have been much less expensive. I suspect that since Obamacare, prices are different now.

[Heath09]

First of all, you typically pay for insurance a month at at time, so if your wife leaves her current employer for any reason, you should be covered through the end of the month. Then, you have several days (60?) from the time the old insurance ends to purchase new insurance. As long as you pay for the premiums starting from the time your old coverage ends till the present, that counts as not having a gap in insurance. Losing insurance because of job loss counts as a qualifying event that enables you to sign up for insurance outside of the open enrollment period. So, there's no need to worry about it happening in the middle of the year.

If your wife were to leave her employer for any reason (including being fired), you two probably would be eligible to keep the same insurance via COBRA for a period of several months. Your premiums would go up because your wife's employer is paying all of her premium and likely paying part of yours, and using COBRA you would have to pay the full thing. COBRA can be shockingly expensive, but it can be better than losing your insurance. Of course, if your wife's employer were to cease to exist or choose another insurance plan, COBRA wouldn't be able to help you keep the same insurance. Since you're in PA, if your wife's employer has fewer than 20 employees, technically, you would be covered by Mini-COBRA instead of COBRA.

Prior to the passage of Obamacare, my experience in PA was that, since I had a pre-existing condition, I was better off using COBRA than shopping for insurance on the open market. If not for my pre-existing condition, the open market would have been much less expensive. I suspect that since Obamacare, prices are different now.

Thank you. If she were fired on the 29th or 30th, would her company only cover her those one or two more days?

Does COBRA let us have the exact same plan until the end of the plan's term?
Can we just contact the health care company directly after a firing to continue the plan or is COBRA the only route for us?
Is COBRA only offered to us if she's fired? Can we still get it under these same rules you outlined if she quits?
Thank you again.

[phantom]

Thank you. If she were fired on the 29th or 30th, would her company only cover her those one or two more days?

That's the way I've always seen it work, but you might want to check with her company to be sure.

Does COBRA let us have the exact same plan until the end of the plan's term?

You can stay on the exact same plan for as long as you like up to a certain number of months. Even if the term ends, if the employer continues to offer the same plan, you can stay on it.

Can we just contact the health care company directly after a firing to continue the plan or is COBRA the only route for us?

You can contact the health insurance company or any other health insurance company after the firing and see what they have to offer. COBRA is the only way to stay on the exact plan that your wife's employer negotiated with the insurance company. But, it is possible that they offer a very similar plan to the general public. Such a plan might even be better for you once your wife's employer is no longer subsidizing your current plan.

Is COBRA only offered to us if she's fired? Can we still get it under these same rules you outlined if she quits?

COBRA covers employees who leave their employer for pretty much any reason.

Check out this Fact Sheet from the Department of Labor for more details on COBRA.