Ok, I’m thinking about taking a new job. If I voluntarily leave my current employer, would COBRA gaurentee the continuation of my benefits through the new employer’s 90 evaluation period?
Source: http://info.insure.com/health/cobra.html
In short, COBRA coverage may vary according to many factors: the state where you live, your current employer’s health plan, your current employer’s employee count, etc.
You should speak ith someone who knows your specific circumstances.
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FWIW, COBRA insurance is not cheap! IMHO, you stand a better chance securing less expensive personal health insurance in the interim. YMMV.
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COBRA is federal and should not vary from state to state.
The advantage to COBRA over buying an individual policy is for the most part in the area of pre-existing conditions. Pre-ex are covered under COBRA and COBRA coverage counts toward any waiting periods which may be imposed under a new plan. Individual policies usually don’t, and also exlude pre-existing conditions. Depending on your specific health situation, COBRA for three months may be the best solution.
Note however that COBRA can be expensive. Although the price of COBRA coverage is limited to 102% of the price of your original insurance, in many companies which offer group health insurance the employer pays some or all of the cost of the premiums. If you go on COBRA, you will end up paying not only your regular monthly contribution but also what had been your employer’s contribution (plus the extra 2% in administrative costs). If your employer provides an excellent health plan you may be responsible for a considerable sum.
–Cliffy
P.S. BTW, for further research, COBRA stands for The Consilidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of (IIRC) 1986.
COBRA ended up costing me nearly $500/month. They don’t tell you the cost until you sign up either. Not to mention they completely f’d up all my coverage and it took me a good 3 months to get it straight.
I recently switched to a single-person plan from Med. Mutual of Ohio (not available in Kansas 
) It’s a dramatic decrease in price.
Talk to the HR or benefits person at your old job and see how much you might be paying for COBRA. If it’s as much as I had to pay, I would recommend looking into temporary insurance from the company you get life, home or car insurance from. I know State Farm offers temporary insurance.
I agree with Otto, tho. If it’s too much of a hassle to get new insurance and you have pre-existing conditions, COBRA is good. I thought that would be the case for me but the cost severely outweighed my pre-existing condition-ness and I regret having spent nearly $4000 for 9 months of health care.
Temporary individual insurance may not protect against losing coverage with the new employer pre-existing conditions. If pre-ex is a concern, COBRA may be your only option.
I thought HIPPA protected against the loss of coverage due to pre-exsisting condtions?
Well, COBRA is part of HIPPA, isn’t it?
… and here I thought COBRA was just a ruthless terrorist
organization determined to rule the world …
And I thought it was a misspelling of CORBA.
I thought it was Cabinet Office Briefing Room A.