I’m about to change jobs. The new job will start on October 2, and my new employer offers health insurance coverage that starts on the day I start work.
My health insurance coverage from my old job ends on September 30.
This means that unless I use COBRA – which means paying almost $700 for a full month of health insurance for October – I will be without health insurance for one day, October 1.
It is not possible for me to get insurance through COBRA for less than a full month.
What would you do? Would you take a chance on not getting sick or injured on that one day? Or would you pay the $700?
That’s what everyone around me is telling me to do, @JazzyTXMom, but I’m so scared to do it that I’m awake at 2:30 in the morning answering your comment.
However, if enough of you agree that this is a reasonable thing to do, perhaps I can get some sleep (although I surely won’t get any on the no-insurance night).
I guess it depends on your overall health. You might be able to find a cheaper bridge plan than your COBRA, but it would still probably be several hundred $. I might take the chance, but stay home and don’t climb any ladders.
I would, too. October 1st might be the day you stay home and binge watch something on Netflix and tell your H you need to stay out of the kitchen that day - too many hidden hazards…
Is there any chance your new insurance could start on the 1st? If not, sounds like hanging in you pjs on Sunday is the way to go! You are talking about a 24 hour period; assuming your health is good, you should be ok without coverage.
Unless you have some seriously unstable health concerns, I would do what @SyrAlum suggests, skip the chance of slipping in the bathroom by not bathing, and order take out, better yet, eat ice cream all day.
@coolweather, I could start earlier, but it would have to be either the previous Wednesday or previous Monday. The company can’t onboard new employees on any other day. And my old employer may insist that I work for my entire notice period, but I will try to convince them otherwise.
@snowball, my new insurance cannot start on the 1st because I won’t be on the payroll yet. October 1 is a Sunday, which is part of the problem.
I’m investigating the possibility of going on my husband’s insurance. They may be able to add me on my day of resignation from the old job rather than my starting date at the new job, which would mean no gap in coverage. This is a little more expensive than my new employer’s insurance per month, but I would only need to be on his plan for three months, and the difference is less than the cost of COBRA. (I would switch to my new employer’s insurance during open enrollment.)
I should also add that October 1 is my husband’s birthday, and this year, it’s a milestone birthday. Doing as little as possible that day and asking him to take over all risky chores isn’t ideal.
I appreciate everyone’s input, and I realize that this is very much a first world problem.
This isn’t a problem. It happens all the time. Here’s what the real deal is:
When you sign up for COBRA, you don’t sign up on the very day you leave your job. It takes a couple of weeks for the COBRA paperwork to be mailed to you. So if you eventually do sign up, it’s always retroactive. So your COBRA coverage is never set up that very first day, and you never have to pay for it until much later. First they’ll set it up administratively, and then they’ll send you a bill.
So, live your life on October 1. If the worst happens, you’ll sign up for COBRA retroactively, to begin on October 1. If nothing happens, you will have just saved $700.
I knew that COBRA took a while to set up and was retroactive, but I didn’t appreciate the implications. Now I understand. Thank you so much!
I’m still going to try to get my end date/start date pushed earlier for other reasons, but if that doesn’t succeed, I’m going to handle the situation exactly as you suggested.
Not trying to scare you but I understand your fear. I work in a medical field. I once had a patient who I think went without for one week til his new job started. During that week he was in a severe car accident through no fault of his own rendering him a quadriplegic with no health insurance.
When I got my first job there was going to be a gap in my insurance and I wanted to go without for the few weeks. I was young and healthy. My parents said absolutely not and paid for the gap. I fell down the stairs in that gap spraining my ankle severe enough to require an ER visit.
Now the odds are surely in your favor but things can and do happen. Good luck, I hope you can rearrange the dates so there is no gap.
I agree with @MaineLonghorn suggestion. We had a three month waiting period for hubbys new job so we got the short term united healthcare policy. It was about $200/mo for a family. It has high deductibles but if something major had happened we would’ve been covered.
I am so glad that I did not read this thread last month. My son turned 26 and aged out of the young adult provision of Obamacare. To get new insurance, he needed a letter stating his change of circumstance since it was not during the open enrollment period. The Department of Defense will not provide the letter until the date of the actual birthday and the new insurance would not start until the first of the next month. He made phone calls and I made phone calls (my h was his military sponsor on his previous insurance, so the letter had to be mailed to us) but there was no way around it. Luckily, he did not need insurance during the several weeks that he was not covered. I still do not understand why the letter can’t be written in advance of the birthday. We didn’t think about bridge insurance which I should have investigated.
Agree with @VeryHappy - You have 60 days to elect COBRA. If nothing happens on October 1st you are fine. If something happens that costs more than your deductible plus the premium, you elect COBRA and send in the paperwork. You probably won’t even receive the COBRA paperwork until past the 1st.
How refreshing that no one has to mention that the 1-day gap would create a pre-existing condition situation!
I’ve told the story before of how my S managed to rack up a $3K medical bill while home for a couple of weeks from France, where he had insurance, because he had none here.
Neverthess, given the COBRA situation cited by VeryHappy, I think you should follow her suggestion.
Yes, partly because of @Consolation’s story, I’ve already purchased “travel insurance” for my son while he’s home at Christmas, visiting from Lebanon. But he DOES have a pre-existing condition that won’t be covered, so I will still be nervous. And he can stay only 30 days, because a longer stay would mean he would have to pay the penalty for not having a “real” policy in the US.
… Actually I was just about to mention the pre-existing condition thing.
If you pay attention to the news, there is yet another Obamacare repeal bill (Cassidy Graham). If Obamacare were repealed, and the preexisting condition coverage was removed from the “essential health benefits” list in the repeal, would they go back to the old continuous coverage rule?
I have no idea, but this is a terrible time to be trying to make health insurance decisions.
