I am moving. My insurance, provided through my employer, is an “in-shop” kind, meaning that virtually all services are provided by people directly employed by the insurer, rather than, say, Blue Cross, where doctors work for themselves and bill the insurer.
The people at COBRA say that it is my right as an employee to pay for and have my insurer provide coverage after I move. My employer says that because my insurer does not have a presence in the place where I am going, they do not have to provide coverage through COBRA.
I am confused. Can anyone speak to this situation? Thanking you.
As Pork Rind notes, COBRA means that you can elect to keep your current coverage going after you leave the company (and pay the full premium cost yourself after you leave the company), but it also means that you’d be keeping the exact same coverage you had with the company. It doesn’t mean that they have to offer you a different policy that will be more useful to you in your new location.
Note that, under the Affordable Care Act, moving is what’s called a Qualifying Life Event, and it will give you a window in which you can buy an individual policy during what they call a Special Enrollment Period (SEP). I believe that you have 60 days after the date of your move to enroll in an ACA policy; after that point, you won’t be able to apply for an ACA policy until the next Open Enrollment Period (OEP), which will likely start in November, and your new policy won’t be effective until 1/1/18. More info on the Heathcare.gov site can be found here.
When I left my old job a few years ago, I maintained my old insurance via COBRA for most of a year, but I discovered that I could get a similar level of coverage via the ACA at a similar cost, and so, I switched to an ACA policy during the OEP.
Note: all of the above is based on how the ACA stands today; any and all of the above could well change depending on what Congress and President Trump decide to do to it.
Also note that continuing insurance under COBRA requires you to pay the entire cost of insurance that was formerly subsidized by your employer. Do you have the information about what you would pay under COBRA? It might not even be your best deal.