the Price of Health Insurance from COBRA

When I got laid off my health insurance plan was switched to a Cobra Plan administered by a professional benefits company and not my original employer. I am now paying $300.51 per month for a basic health insurance plan along with $22.74 per month for a basic dental plan and $4.93 per month for a basic vision plan. The plans are for Single Only, they cover just me and no dependents, and I do not have an unusual medical conditions or pre-existing conditions. The health insurance plan benefits are $20 co-pay for doctor visits and $25 co-pay for specialists; $50 co-pay for urgent care visits and $100 co-pay for emergency room visits; and a three rier pharmacy system that goes from $10 to $50 co-pays depending on the drug. Outpatient surgery and lab services have the first $250 as a co-pay and are covered 100% after that, Inpatient coverage has a $250 co-pay per admission but no deductible, and after that coverage is at 90%. The annual deductible is $100 per person but is only if I go out of the network, and there is a maximum out of pocket cap of $1500 per person per year. Maximum plan benefits are capped at $2 million per person. Dental plan benefits are limited to $1500 a year and the Vision plan benefits are pretty much one eye exam and one pair of glasses or contacts a year.

The health insurance benefits are the same as I had when I was covered by my employer, the benefits company did not allow my to change coverage, I just had the option to continue whatever coverage I had or not, so there is no change in that respect. It is just that now I have to pay $100 a month more for the same coverage because going with Cobra meant I lost the employer subsidy. The insurance company seems to handle claims, pay benefits, answer questions, and send correspondence just as efficiently as they did when my employer was paying the bill. With Cobra, you have a certain number of days the first Cobra payment is due, I think it is 90 days, or you lose your right to Cobra benefits. And then you have to make subsequent payments within 30 days of the due date or your benefits are terminated with no recourse. My Cobra benefits are administered by an outsourced company that collects the premiums and not my employer, and dealing with them has been a nightmare. They were late getting the initial information package to me and every month it is a challenge to get the payment to them on time. Their website always seems to be down for service and the payments I have mailed to them take two weeks or more for processing. Forget calling them, they are very rude and not all that helpful when you are able to reach them.

I wish I had known my company was closing because I would have scaled back my coverage to a basic health plan and dropped the dental and vision coverage to save money. I can't do that now though because with Cobra you have to keep the same coverage you had beforehand.