COBRA Healthcare coverage vs Family or Individual Health Care Insurance

While C.O.B.R.A. coverage can be a good option for many families, individuals often accept the C.O.B.R.A. option when it's not the best deal. If compared to private medical coverage, C.O.B.R.A. can cost more than other options, it can conclude too early and it may put someone else in control of your policy.

COBRA is often too expensive

C.O.B.R.A. is s short-term solution

COBRA is under someone else's control

COBRA is often too pricey

The COBRA law gives you the right to be covered by a group insurance policy. One of the biggest misconceptions former employees have about medical care coverage is that group insurance policies are less pricey than individual or family medical insurance policies that you can get on your own. While this is sometimes true, it isn't usually. In many states, health Insurance costs more if purchased through an employer.

This is because of the cost of governmental mandates that apply to group medicalcare Insurance policies that don't apply to individual medical assurance policies. A company offering a group coverage policy may have to offer a policy to anyone regardless of their medical history. insurance companies cannot drop an insured person from their individual and/or family medical Insurance policy simply because their medical care has gotten worse after they applied, but they won't take new people with pre-existing conditions. This may mean that the insurance company's costs are much higher for their group coverage policies than for their family and/or individual healthcare insurance policies.

You may be offered the group assurance plan that you had before your job concluded and/or if your company has made changes in the policies they offer to their current employees, it may be a different medical care plan.

C.O.B.R.A. is s short-term solution

In most situations, C.O.B.R.A. may be kept for a maximum of 18 months, however in certain situations, this time period can be extended to 36 months. This can mean that your coverage can be over at the time when you need it the most. A good family or individual medical care Insurance policy can cover you until you reach the age of 65.

You may be healthy enough to qualify for a long-term medicalcare assurance policy when your job ends but not 18 months later. If you or someone in your family develop a condition and/or have some other medical issue that keeps you from buying a policy at the end of your COBRA eligibility

C.O.B.R.A. is under someone else's control

When you mail in your C.O.B.R.A. payments, you send them to your former company. Although this happens rarely, sometimes companies will take your money and never pay the insurance company.

If your company changes the plans that are offered to their current employees, they may also change the plans available to those eligible for medical care coverage because they have taken the COBRA option. This may mean that your plan may not cover you as well as it used to. You could suddenly be in the position of having a pricey plan that no longer covers you well.

Scenarios where C.O.B.R.A. is better than individual and/or family health coverage:

If COBRA is much less expensive than a individual or family Insurance policy

A individual health coverage policy isn't available to you

You're guaranteed a medical insurance plan before your COBRA eligibility ends.

There are situations where COBRA can be better option than a individual or family medical care Insurance plan. If you cannot get a medical care policy on your own at a good price and you find that your COBRA option isn't too pricey COBRA may be your best options. This of course is also true if you can notget a COBRA policy because of a pre-existing condition. Another situation where COBRA may be a good option is when you will be eligible for Medicare or some other medical care policy before your C.O.B.R.A. eligibility will end.

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While C.O.B.R.A. coverage can be a good option for many families, individuals often accept the C.O.B.R.A. option when it's not the best deal. If compared to private medical coverage, C.O.B.R.A. can cost more than other options, it can conclude too early and it may put someone else in control of you

Alston J. Balkcom has been an insurance agent since 1985. He has helped hundreds of families find COBRA insurance alternatives

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