Scan Medical Insurance

how does COBRA insurance work?

ok so I left my old job last friday to take a new one this monday. This Wednesday I became ill and had to go to the hospital, now I'm trying to figure out how to handle insurance. Both my employers should have provided me with medical insurance. Basically my new employer in our agreement said I'd have all benefits effective my date of hire but have yet to sign me up for a medical plan yet so I have none of that health insurance information. My old employer is supposed to send me a cobra form in the mail which has yet to happen yet. My new employer has told me to go with my old employers insurance as they don't have my info yet. My question is who should I go after for insurance my new employer to get me my insurance info or my old employer to get me the COBRA form which they promised me? Should I be concerned at this point? Without insurance I've racked up some hefty medical bills.... yes I said that right and have it in writing... I started monday went to the hospital on wednesday two days after my start date and my insurance is supposed to start on my date of hire but the paperwork hasn't been processed yet. no I prob managed to rack up a thousand or so dollars in medical bills in a couple days the cash only rate isn't a good way to go.

Public Comments

1. You should still be covered by your old plan. Even though you resigned, your monthly payments may have already been deducted to cover you for the period in between your old plan expiration and the new plans start! If not, you'll have to pay the monthly cobra payment (which is probably a little more than what you would like it to be because it pro-rated to include the company's contribution plus yours) and that will put the medical plan up-to-date!
2. Insurance from your new employer will not be retroactive and therefore will not help with the existing bill. COBRA, by law, must be retroactive. Go after the old employer.
3. Let me be clear on this...you started a new job on Monday. Benefits were promised to you to be effective on your date of hire. You went to the hospital on Wednesday. Is that correct? If your benefits were supposed to be effective on Monday, as long as your new employer sends the info to the insurance company indicating that, you should be fine. (Again - this is under the assumption that your new employer did definitely agree to have your benefits start on your date of hire, and that your date of hire was prior to the illness.) Contrary to what one of the posters said above, with group insurance quite often the employer doesn't have your information to the insurance company on the exact date your benefits are supposed to start. I used to work for one of the largest health insurance companies in my state, and several of our large groups routinely took up to 2 weeks to get the benefits paperwork for new hires to us. As long as the benefit package negotiated with the insurer indicates that the benefits are supposed to be effective on the date of hire, the insurer will very likely accept the paperwork and get you loaded into the system showing effective on your hire date. Now, keep in mind that many employers benefit plans have stipulations that you're not eligible for health coverage until you complete a probationary period (example, 30 or 60 days after you are hired). Are you sure that your new employer clearly indicated that the benefits for their company start on the date of hire? If not, COBRA would be your best option. You'll likely be receving the COBRA paperwork from your previous employer's COBRA administrator soon. Sometimes it takes awhile to get all that processed - it can take up to 6 weeks for COBRA coverage to show as effective in the insurer's system. Its still retroactive to your date of termination with the old company, so if you go the COBRA route just have the hospital and other medical providers resubmit the bills once you're updated in the system.
4. If you have only had to go to the doctor ONCE, find out if the hospital has a "cash only" rate, all of them do...that may be cheaper than paying the COBRA premium. If the COBRA is cheaper, then pay the COBRA premium, and they will pay your hospital bill just like they would have before...be SURE to take all deductables into consideration. COBRA works EXACTLY like your old insurance at your former employer. The only difference is you pay the full premium, and the employer doesn't pay any of it.