Getting to the bottom of a scary COBRA dilemma

BY IRENE C. CARD and BETSY CHANDLER

YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE

Following is an excerpt from an e-mail we received from a person in California on December 27, 2009. She is currently being treated for cancer. It certainly is of relevance to any one on COBRA so we are eager to share it with you.

"The letter was from my insurance company, Aetna, telling me that effective 12-31-09 my insurance coverage will be terminated based on the fact that my group coverage from my former employer (I'm on COBRA) is being terminated December 31, 2009. My former employer is a school district and they are closed for the holidays until January 4, 2010 which is a week after my insurance will be terminated!

"I only found out what is going on because I called someone I used to work with who told me the district is changing from Aetna to Health Net on January first. No one told me anything at all about this! Shouldn't they be required to give me more than a week's notice, especially a week's notice over the holidays when everyone is closed?

I'm freaking out — I'll have no health insurance as of this coming week and I can't even talk to anyone about it for over another week! It was literally just two and one-half weeks ago that Aetna told me they are covering the interferon I'm now taking. I wonder if that Aetna department even knew anything about me being dropped soon — I can't believe they would have if they would have known."

Aetna did not single out this person on COBRA to drop her. Her former employer is changing carriers effective January 1, 2010 and, by law, the new carrier (Health Net) must insure not only the active employees but also the people who are currently on COBRA.

It appears that this was simply an oversight by the school Board who neglected to notify the persons on COBRA that their benefits would be changing on January 1st. The major problem with the school being closed is that she cannot get answers until 4 days after she is on the new plan. Hopefully, Health Net will have sent the new ID cards and benefits booklet to her prior to the New Year. She assumed she was simply being dropped and left out in the cold.

Not so.

If her COBRA benefits will be exhausted on January 1st, then she will, indeed, lose her coverage and have to purchase an individual policy immediately so that she does not have much of a gap in coverage.

However, the way the email was written pretty much indicates that this is not a case of COBRA expiring but simply of the employer changing insurance carriers.

Irene Card & Betsy Chandler are licensed insurance professionals working at MIC Insurance Services, a health insurance services company. If you have questions relative to this column or other related topics, we invite you to call (973) 492-2828, or visit our web site at www.micinsurance.com.