Health Insurance Exchange Vs Cobra

If you re losing job based coverage and haven t signed up for cobra learn about your rights and options under cobra from the u s.
Health insurance exchange vs cobra. Under cobra the consolidated omnibus budget reconciliation act passed in 1985 an employer with 20 or more full time workers must allow you and your dependents to continue on the company health. If your employer sponsored health insurance plan is covered under cobra you ll get cobra insurance as an option if you quit or lose your job. When you lose job based insurance you may be offered cobra continuation coverage by your former employer. If you decide not to take cobra coverage you can enroll in a marketplace plan instead.
You re also eligible if your hours are reduced. The consolidated omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1985 cobra requires most employers with group health insurance plans to offer their employees the opportunity to continue their health coverage under their employer s plan even after they have been terminated or laid off or had another change in their employment status. If you have a spouse or dependent children on your employer based health insurance they ll also be covered in those circumstances. Plus if your employer has gone out of business the health plan is usually terminated so.
Cobra may be the best insurance strategy for newly unemployed until fall. Shots health news with the 2018 health insurance market still in play you might want to extend your job based. If you lose your job based health insurance you ll qualify for a special enrollment period on your state s health insurance exchange or for an individual market plan offered outside the exchange if that s your preference regardless of whether cobra continuation is available to you and even if you choose cobra at the start of your. Traditionally the only option has been an expensive one to continue your plan through cobra.
But monthly cobra premiums on employer plans can be very expensive so it may not be the best option. When health care reform first passed there were many that felt it was the beginning of the end for cobra.