<p>Hope you health insurance experts can offer advice. Daughter graduated from college in June. First job started yesterday, 8/4. I paid $400 for COBRA health and dental in July, and she used the benefits in July to catch up on physicals, etc. I haven’t paid August yet, and the payment’s not due till 8/16. Meanwhile her job has good health insurance and it started yesterday, 8/4. There is no pro-rating, so we would have to pay $400 for 3 days of coverage in August (3 days when she did not go to the doctor or have any prescriptions). </p>
<p>I have heard that if you have a gap between insurance policies it may turn out down the line that they try to claim you had a preexisting hangnail and so they won’t pay for your open-heart surgery. (I exaggerate, but you get the drift.) The only possible reason I would have for paying $400 for 3 days would be to avoid any sort of problem for her in the future. She did not use the insurance in any way during those three days. Would it be a bad idea to skip the August payment to COBRA and thereby have her retroactively uninsured for 3 days?</p>
<p>No- do not pay this. There is no need. With her young age and her new company benefitis, she is fine. This is not what they mean by a “gap in coverage”. We just left our daughter with a 30 day gap (delayed paying the COBRA) until she and her new husband got their coverage through his hospital/employer. (I have looked into this a lot, so it isn’t just an uneducated opinion… )</p>
<p>Can you pay health only and skip the dental?
We had to buy gap coverage for our son when he graduated from college and had yet to land a job. I remember each company verifying that he had ‘continuous coverage’ before they would consider issuing a policy.
I’d be more concerned with being able to get covered in the future rather than the 3 claimless days.</p>
<p>Health insurance companies can’t deny coverage for pre-existing conditions as long as you don’t have a gap in coverage of more than 63 days. So the three days will not be an issue.</p>
<p>aparent,
I just re-read your post, and realized that your D is already being covered by her new plan as of yesterday, so I don’t even know why you would think about paying for August 1-3 which have already passed, over and done with, and no health issues occured in those 3 days. It’s over.</p>
<p>We have also just been through a similar situation. It is best to have your daughter check with her current employer to see if the plan is effective immediately, or if there is any delay in the effective date of the new benefit coverage. You are right to want to avoid any gap in coverage, but the definition of “gap” seems to vary. Here, they claimed that the gap was at the 61st day of no coverage, meaning that we could go 2 mos with no coverage. I dont really feel comfortable with that and dont totally buy that, as if there is *any lapse in coverage, unless you get a “proof of credible coverage” letter from your previous employer showing when you were covered through, the new insurance may check back to look for preexisting and stall payments when your dau goes to the Dr. Definitely a hassle that is easily avoided.</p>
<p>Usually you have 30 days to pay your cobra, so if for some reason you find out that your dau’s insurance doesn become effective until Sept, you can pay August’s COBRA anytime in August. You’ll probably get a warning letter after the middle of the month that the bill is overdue. That is ok.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the very helpful advice. I guess my worries have been based mostly on the Michael Moore movie. Since seeing it I have been reluctant to have her without coverage for even, say, five minutes. When our son, who graduated two years earlier, had a lapse in coverage I don’t even think we realized it. It’s a crazy system…</p>
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When our son, who graduated two years earlier, had a lapse in coverage I don’t even think we realized it. It’s a crazy system…</p>