[quote=bearishgurl][quote=UCGal] . . . I think this will be good for folks with an entrepreneurial spirit. Even if they have a pre-existing condition, they can leave their corporate health insurance next week. They can go into business for themselves… spurring the economy, creating jobs. (Next week will be 18 months till 1/1/14… so Cobra can tide them over till the pre-existing condition part goes into effect.)
No longer will people be tied to employers *just* for healthcare. This is huge![/quote]
I agree, UCGal, but have you checked the price of COBRA lately? It is typically more per month than your employer even pays for your plan and can be VERY cost-prohibitive, depending on what kind of a plan you have at work. If you currently have a PPO, you may find that an HMO offered by your employer is all you afford at COBRA rates.
18 months at $600-$800 mo (for the ex-employee ONLY) is enough incentive to keep working, IMHO, at least until 2014.
Individual plans can cost less than COBRA, but until 2014, the carriers of these plans are allowed to underwrite them upon application and price them accordingly.[/quote]
It can only be a small percentage (2%) over what the full cost is.
If you had a large employer – they get cheaper rates through economy of scale. If you had a small employer – your overall rates were higher. In that case it might be cheaper to shop around. Assuming no pre-existing conditions.
Trust me – I pay attention not just to the employee rates (subsidized) but the cobra rates – it’s how I know my employer has been steadily increasing the employee paid percentage of the overall cost. With my large employer the cost of Kaiser Permanente (the cheapest option – even cheaper that the High Ded. plan… so the one I’m on) is about 20% via cobra than what KP quotes online. Assuming my family would even qualify… my husband has had knee surgery, is on a staten drug, etc… my son has an all all which might be considered a pre-existing condition.
My best friend is the poster child for a healthy person with a boatload of pre-existing conditions. She had scoleosis and a fused spine. She had a congenital condition with her kidney as a child. She’s got an auto-immune condition that flares up a bit – similar to lupis. She had to turn down a job with a start up because it did not offer insurance. (Small company – everyone else got insurance through their spouse.) When she was laid off – she had to take a job in a grocery store bakery for insurance, while consulting as a programmer to pay her mortgage. Pre existing conditions are a HUGE deal if you have them. They literally impact where you work in order to get insurance.
