COBRA is utterly useless
Families USA published a new study today about the affordability of COBRA, the federal program that lets employees keep their company insurance after leaving a job (you can read the study at http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/cobra.html).
An unemployed person who had health insurance as a benefit can buy that coverage for 18 months after leaving the company. You have to pay the full premium plus a 2 percent administrative fee.
The average cost to keep your family insured? More than 80 percent of your monthly unemployment benefit. In nine states, the cost is 100-142 percent of the unemployment benefit.
So, IF you had health insurance where you worked and you got laid off, your unemployment check would be pretty much eaten up by your COBRA premium.
At the end of the 18 months, you have the right to purchase coverage from the insurance company at whatever the hell that company wants to charge you.
That’s what my friend, Carolyn Comeau, faces.
In February 2007, Carolyn was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. A few months later, her husband was laid off his job. They have run through all their savings, all their retirement money, all their kids’ college funds, just to keep their coverage. They don’t know what they’ll do when their COBRA expires in April. They have no idea what the insurance company will demand of them to keep their coverage so Carolyn is assured access to quality health care should her cancer come back.
As it is, the insurance company is fond of playing games, pretending they didn’t receive payment. She has to pay extra to send her check return-recepit-requested so the insurance company can’t deny receiving it.
And today, unemployment figures came out: 7.2 percent — and when you figure in the number of people who aren’t counted because they’ve exhausted their benefits or have been forced to take part-time work, the rate is over 13 percent.
For each 1 percent rise in unemployment, there’s a 1.1 percent rise in the number of uninsured.
Meanwhile, the insurance companies are making obscene profits.
It’s criminal, but they get away with it.
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Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a new peer support program for people newly diagnosed with chronic or serious illness or with a new disability and their caregivers.
Patient Pals are people who have experience with various illnesses and disabilities, who can help someone newly diagnosed or with a new disability work through the fear, frustration, confusion and grief often experienced in the first few months.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
People with new illness or disability fare better when they have a role model -- someone who can help them negotiate their new path in life.
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[...] And today, unemployment figures came out: 7.2 percent — and when you figure in the number of people who aren’t counted because they’ve exhausted their benefits or have been forced to take part-time work, the rate is over 13 percent. …[Continue Reading] [...]