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Employer promises to keep health insurance going for one month after he lays me off and then drops it anyway?

My employer that I was with up until 2 months ago when he laid me off stated that they would keep my health insurance active until the end of March. The day they let me go just happened to be the day after I told them I had to have a heart procedure done and I would be out for a couple of days. My dilemma is that I did not pay Cobra on account that they said they would keep my insurance going for one more month. Needless to say medical is not cheap and this procedure came in at over $60,000 dollars. Now I have multiple people breathing down my neck. Is there any recourse here or am I just out $60,000 dollars? Thank you all for your comments. Sadly enough I did not have this in writing. As part of my termination package they paid me one month’s wages. In regards to it being a miss understanding on my part is untrue. The owners and the receptionist all said the same thing that they would cover my insurance for at least one month. This was in order to allow my new insurance a month to kick in. If they had not stated this I would have paid my Cobra and would not be in this predicament. I also would have waited to have the procedure done after my new insurance started.

Public Comments

1. Unless you got it in writing? You are S.O.L. Sorry dude.
2. Unless you had a written agreement that the employer was going to pay your CORBA bill as part of your separation package, you have no recourse if you didn't pay it yourself.
3. Wow, that really stinks. The laws about these things are different in every state. If I were you, I would call my state respresentative (senators, reps, congressmen, etc...) and they should be able to lead you in the right direction. I work for a state senator, and that is the kind of work we do for people.
4. I would think that the only recourse you have is if the employer did not follow the COBRA/State Continuation guidelines. Did you receive the notification? Did you respond to it? Has the window in which you are allowed to elect COBRA/Continuation expired? If not, you may still be able to elect coverage, but you would have to pay all premiums due through the end of March.
5. As your employer apparently DID send you the COBRA notification, and you didn't pay it, unless you have something in writing from the employer saying they would keep your health insurance and THEY would pay it, you're out $60K. You'd have to sue the employer, you'd have to prove they offered to PAY it. You see, there could have been a miscommunication here - the employer could have been thinking that the COBRA they offered was the insurance they were talking about, and that you'd just pay it. And YOU were assuming that they'd keep you on their group policy. If I were the employer, and you were suing me, that's the defense I'd use. And heck, it might be accurate. So, I really don't think you'd have a strong case for suing the employer for the uninsured medical costs.