COBRA
COBRA, which generally applies to employers with 20 or more employees, allows you to continue your previous employer’s group health coverage at group rates. Your cost for coverage may be higher than you were paying before (and is usually higher than the cost for coverage under a spouse’s plan), but generally the cost is lower than that it is private, individual health insurance coverage.
Your old plan should send you a notice regarding the availability of COBRA coverage. After you get this notice, you generally have 60 days to elect coverage and it is then available retroactive to the loss of coverage. (Note: Once you have signed up for COBRA, you won’t be eligible for special enrollment in another group health plan, such as your spouse’s plan, until all COBRA coverage available is exhausted. Therefore, it is important to consider special enrollment in another plan promptly.) COBRA coverage typically lasts for 18 months, but may last longer in certain circumstances. For more information on COBRA, click here.
- COBRA information from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department
- COBRA Subsidy and Health Insurance for the Unemployed - Kaiser Family Foundation - This piece answers key questions how how new COBRA benefits would work, who might benefit and how they interact with other laws and programs helping people obtain and maintain health coverage.
