Tips For Extending your Health Insurance Benefits Even If Your Work Situation Has Changed

covid-19 • Jun 17, 2020

With millions out of work and the unemployment rate at nearly 15% as of May, many people are losing not only their income, but their healthcare as well. With health insurance tied to employment, it’s difficult to access quality and affordable care without a job. People are avoiding medical appointments—a recent survey found that nearly half of all Americans had delayed medical care since the start of the COVID crisis, some of them due to fear of contagion but many also due to cost. Whether it’s treatment for coronavirus or any other medical issue, everyone needs access to care.

Here at Skip we want to help you avoid losing medical care you need because your job situation has changed. You can avoid coverage gaps using a government program called COBRA. Read on for our guide to COBRA.

Extend Your Coverage With COBRA: Our Guide

COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) is a federal law passed in 1985. It gives people the ability to extend their healthcare coverage after certain events, including divorce, job loss or job transition, or the death of a plan holder. If you lose your job or have your hours cut below the cutoff for benefits, you can still extend your coverage.

Who Qualifies for COBRA?

The “qualifying events” for COBRA coverage include a variety of major life events including the loss of a job, whether voluntary or involuntary. Federally, COBRA requires that companies with over 20 employees offer the option to extend coverage, but some states also require it of smaller companies.

The first thing that has to happen for you to sign up for COBRA is that your employer will inform your health insurance plan administrator and offer you the option to elect coverage. They are required to do that within one month of terminating your job.

Once your employer informs your plan, you'll get an "election notice" from your employer, a document that explains COBRA is now available to you. Then, you can get in contact with your healthcare plan and choose to extend your coverage. Your employer was also required to provide you with documentation of your health insurance plan when the benefits were offered to you, including the specifics of how to sign up for COBRA under your plan. You can always contact your former employer for that document again if you need it!

As part of the sweeping emergency response bills that were passed in response to the coronavirus, the Department of Labor made changes to the rules around COBRA. In normal times, you have to sign up to extend coverage within 60 days of getting your election notice and begin paying premiums for your insurance within 45 days.

Due to coronavirus, those deadlines were relaxed. The government set the deadline for signing up for COBRA coverage to August 28, 2020 for anyone whose qualifying event occurred between March and now. That deadline could be further extended, but that’s where it is now.

The deadline for people’s first premium payment who signed up between March and now has also been extended, to August 14, 2020 (45 days from the end of June). This deadline could also be pushed back further.

That's great news for everyone who has lost their jobs in this crisis! We will keep you updated if the deadlines change.

COBRA Costs

Unfortunately, COBRA does not require that your employer continues to pay for your health insurance. It just requires that you are able to extend your plan.

Extending your coverage under COBRA may be more expensive than what you were paying before you lost your job, if your employer covered part of your plan. But it will probably be cheaper than trying to buy insurance through your plan separately yourself, since you’ll get a “group rate” rather than an individual rate, which is usually higher.

Other Options if You Don’t Qualify For COBRA

If your employer was too small to require COBRA coverage or if your plan is too expensive for you to cover without your employer’s portion, there are other options. Because of the COVID crisis, several states have reopened Affordable Care Act (ACA) open enrollment on the health insurance marketplace. Right now, ACA enrollment is open in California, Vermont, Massachusetts, and DC. You can find more info here, and we will update if any more states open up ACA enrollment!

Depending on your income, you also may qualify for Medicaid, government subsidized healthcare that is available for low income individuals and families. You can apply directly through your state’s Medicaid website, and if you’re approved you’ll get coverage immediately. If your state’s ACA marketplace is open and you qualify, you can also get Medicaid through the marketplace.

Need Help? Chat with Us.

Start a free Skip Plus trial to get help with government services of all kinds, including getting health insurance and avoiding a coverage gap. Whether you need to get a new plan or extend your employer’s plan, we can help!