Will Implementation of the ACA Mark the Death of COBRAs?

[stopbush]

I've been on COBRAs from a couple of different places, and it's amazing how expensive they are, roughly TWICE what you were paying in premiums as an employee. With a COBRA, you basically pay your half of the premium PLUS the half your employer was picking up as well. I don't think that most people realize this.

Up till now, you had little choice but a COBRA/no insurance if you lost your job, because as expensive as they are, they're still cheaper than what a single policy with similar benefits costs on the open market. The real kick in the teeth with COBRAs was that you were suddenly asked to pay double for your health insurance at the very point where your income stream went away. And, a COBRA is only good for 18 months, which is hardly an acceptable band aid in this age where people are often unemployed for two to five years at a stretch.

I would have to think that there will be much cheaper options available once the health exchanges are set up, and from the same insurance companies that offer COBRAs. For the first time, free market competition between insurance companies for people who have lost their jobs should serve to produce much better options for consumers than were ever offered by COBRAs.

[Poll_Blind]

1. Probably, and probably some other legislation as well. This is not necessarily a...

...good thing, however. It is entirely dependent on what a PPACA-qualified Bronze, Silver, etc. plan covers for the same amount of money. For instance, a Bronze plan will definitely not give you the coverage that COBRA would have. It'll be less expensive, definitely, but it's giving you less coverage. Right now I'm not entirely sure if there exists a PPACA-qualified Bronze plan, for instance, from a provider. The reason why is that these plans and their coverage are not based on services, they are based on actuarial percentages.

I haven't found one yet, maybe someone has a link? And I don't mean to a plan that's just called, for instance, "Bronze", I'm talking about a Bronze plan that is PPACA-compliant.

Until there are actually concrete plans, with concrete prices and concrete services, the concept of COBRA's going away (potentially) might seem like a godsend because, COBRAs are always nightmare expensive. But the replacement, I believe, is yet to be seen.

Once those start coming out, that's going to give you the ability to start comparing how one way of doing things compares to another.

PB

[unblock]

2. actually, you pay 102% of the premiums due to the cobra administrative fee!

i agree, cobra was better than nothing, but it's very expensive.

the one thing i like about it is that you have, i think, 90 days to decide if you want coverage retroactively to the day you lost your old job. at least then you have a better idea as to what your situation is -- did you manage to get a new job in that time frame, etc.