Husband/wife both unemployed (insurance, unemployment, buying)

[jtolpin]

When it rains it pours....

Asking for a friend.

Husband has been on unemployment for a couple months now and spouses school teacher contract expires End of June and she is not being renewed.

Her job covered insurance, so is the only choice Cobra (and pay through the nose probably), or is there something else available, in case neither one of them get a job by the end of June?

Sure, if they need Cobra, they can jump on, and pay, maybe for a month (or 2?) but thats not the best option, I would think,

Sure, both of them will be filing for unemployment.

But when she files, and says they she has dependants, does she claim them as well (Id think no) since her husband claims them on his already.

Thanks

[jtolpin]

No other claimant may receive a dependency allowance for this
dependent during the same weeks of UI benefits.

Got that from Mas unemployment site.... I figured that part.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by jtolpin

Her job covered insurance, so is the only choice Cobra (and pay through the nose probably), or is there something else available, in case neither one of them get a job by the end of June?

Check out https://www.mahealthconnector.org and hsainsurance.com. Maybe you will find a plan that makes more sense than COBRA. I have doubts you would qualify for a subsidy, but you can still buy at full freight even if you don't. Losing the job would qualify you to subscribe in the middle of the year.

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by jtolpin

Her job covered insurance, so is the only choice Cobra (and pay through the nose probably), or is there something else available, in case neither one of them get a job by the end of June?

Sure, if they need Cobra, they can jump on, and pay, maybe for a month (or 2?) but thats not the best option, I would think,

For less than 3 months you can take the risk an be uninsured without having to pay the penalty. This may not be the best time to do that unfortunately, but COBRA is usually insanely expensive. Like 5 times what was your rate before. Every time I had to consider COBRA I always ended up not going for it.

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by Lampert

For less than 3 months you can take the risk an be uninsured without having to pay the penalty. This may not be the best time to do that unfortunately, but COBRA is usually insanely expensive. Like 5 times what was your rate before. Every time I had to consider COBRA I always ended up not going for it.

The cost of COBRA is 102% of the full premium of the plan you were on while employed. It really just depends on how generous your employer was...but yes assuming the employer paid 80% of the premium it will be a little over 5x the benefit you were paying, but is it going to be cheaper than what's available on Health Connector? I don't know.

OP, it really just depends on the individual situation whether it makes sense to go on COBRA. If there was heavy use of the deductible, it will make the breakeven period a bit longer since new insurance will reset the deductible.

Check to see that her providers are covered under whatever alternate plan she is considering.

Very tough and unfortunate situation especially with children. I wish your friends the best and hope they have a decent amount of savings.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

Check out https://www.mahealthconnector.org and hsainsurance.com. Maybe you will find a plan that makes more sense than COBRA. I have doubts you would qualify for a subsidy, but you can still buy at full freight even if you don't. Losing the job would qualify you to subscribe in the middle of the year.

There's almost no chance that any of the plans will be worse than COBRA, cost wise. The bargain plan from Fallon is $800/month for a family . It's not "good" IIRC $3000 deductible and $1000 co-pay, so it's pretty garbage, but for an otherwise healthy family, or with a lot of prescriptions it could be worth it for a few months (my diabetic wife just paid $600 for a single month of drugs out of pocket)

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

The cost of COBRA is 102% of the full premium of the plan you were on while employed. It really just depends on how generous your employer was...but yes assuming the employer paid 80% of the premium it will be a little over 5x the benefit you were paying, but is it going to be cheaper than what's available on Health Connector? I don't know.

OP, it really just depends on the individual situation whether it makes sense to go on COBRA. If there was heavy use of the deductible, it will make the breakeven period a bit longer since new insurance will reset the deductible.

Check to see that her providers are covered under whatever alternate plan she is considering.

Very tough and unfortunate situation especially with children. I wish your friends the best and hope they have a decent amount of savings.

Yeah, I was going for the 80% paid by employer.
COBRA really gives you an idea of how expensive healthcare actually is. I know a lot of people that think their employer-provided insurance costs 2-300$ a month because that is what they pay.

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by Lampert

I know a lot of people that think their employer-provided insurance costs 2-300$ a month because that is what they pay.

Yeah that's sad. To be fair, there hasn't been much transparency until recently. Tell them to look at their last W-2 in Box 12 code DD.

[jtolpin]

Thanks all. 80/20 would hurt as they pay $500/mth for BCBS. Its very much going to hurt for a month or 2, for sure, but its needed due to the RXes and stuff.... ugh.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

There's almost no chance that any of the plans will be worse than COBRA, cost wise.

I think the word you are looking for is "better". COBRA is really really expensive so I would say it's at least worth looking into an third party plan.

One thing is that you don't get the deduction buying off an exchange, dunno about COBRA.