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Is C.O.B.R.A. healthcare insurance the right option?

By: A. J. Balkcom

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When your employment ends, C.O.B.R.A. insurance may be the optimum choice to cover you and your family. It can also be a very costly error. Knowing how to decide whether to take a previous employer's C.O.B.R.A. offer might help you save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. COBRA can be priced hundreds more each month when compared to similar non-C.O.B.R.A. insurance choices that offer similar or sometimes better benefits.

COBRA could be the right choice when:

Individual and family medical cover isn't available to you

Individual health care insurance would cost significantly more

You are guaranteed acceptance into a health coverage plan when C.O.B.R.A. ends

If you or a family member has a pre-existing condition, accepting your C.O.B.R.A. option could be your best and only viable choice. Private health care coverage can not be available to you and your C.O.B.R.A. medical cover plan will probably cover the health care condition.

Usually C.O.B.R.A. health care cover costs more than a policy available to those who purchase their insurance directly. Since C.O.B.R.A. is an extension of your eligibility for your company's group medical care coverage plan and group medical insurance usually costs more than individual healthcare assurance.

However, in certain situations, C.O.B.R.A. will cost less than a policy that you may acquire on your own. If that difference is great enough, you might want to consider the COBRA option.

If you are guaranteed acceptance into a quality medical care coverage policy when your C.O.B.R.A. eligibility ends you avoid the biggest pitfall of COBRA healthcare insurance. Often people who are perfectly healthy when they sign up for COBRA won't be when their eligibility ends. This might mean that their home or other assets are used to pay for health care bills that are incurred after their C.O.B.R.A. policy ends.

C.O.B.R.A. may be a big error in many other situations. This is because:

Accepting COBRA now may mean that you won't qualify for other insurance when your COBRA ends

COBRA might cost you more than a individual medical care coverage plan

The biggest problem with accepting COBRA isn't the cost when compared to a similar individual health care coverage plan. The biggest issue is the tens of thousands of dollars you could have to pay out of your pocket for health care after your C.O.B.R.A. ends. C.O.B.R.A. will typically end 18 months after your employment ends. If, for example, you will be eligible for Medicare when your COBRA ends, this issue shouldn't concern you. However, there is always the possibility that you will develop a serious healthcare condition during the time that you are covered by COBRA. This may cause any new insurance company to reject your application.

If you can buy a policy that you can keep until you're eligible for Medicare while you're healthy, you might avoid this potential disastrous event.

Many people fail to even check prices for other health care assurance options. C.O.B.R.A. health care cover is often the most expensive option. COBRA may cost twice as much as a private medical care coverage policy!

Be sure to shop around for prices and benefits. Very often your C.O.B.R.A. medical plan insurer will have a similar policy non-COBRA policy that you're eligible for.

COBRA coverage may be the right option in certain scenarios. However make sure to look at other available insurance options because purchasing COBRA if there are more competitive insurance options an option for you might be a costly error.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

A. J. Balkcom has an insurance agency in Connecticut and has helped many many families find health insurance coverage. He has been helping families find California home insurance quotes or Rhode Island healthcare insurance

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