Health insurance through COBRA

[Chubby]

is $177 a month good? I just got the paperwork in the mail today.

[Franklinnoble]

Uh, yeah. That's less than I pay for it through my present employer. COBRA is usually hella expensive...

[Chubby]

My limited understanding of COBRA is that you (me) pay what your former employer was paying, is that right?

[SirFozzie]

I pay $330 a month for Cobra. :/

[stevew]

Do you pay Tomax or Xamot?

[SirFozzie]

(Slaps SteveW!)

I wondered for a few seconds where that came from, and then I got it, and then I wished I hadn't

[clintl]

$177 is outstanding for health insurance.

[mordhiem]

To my dissappointment, not GI Joe related...

[Chubby]

I'm clueless as to how much this stuff costs because it's always been 100% free through work until now.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by mordhiem

To my dissappointment, not GI Joe related...

Man, one of these days Im breaking down and buying the DVD set....I used to love GIJOE.

[SirFozzie]

here's a joke from one of my RPG forums (Shadowrun's Dumpshock), in honor of mordheim, I will twist to GI Joe.

The junior salesman was assigned to Cobra's security staff induction centre, where he was to advise new recruits about their corporation life insurance policy, especially their Security Crew Revised Estimated Withholdings and Evaluated Dividends (SCREWED).

It wasn't long before the Terror Dome's security chief noticed that the salesman had an almost perfect record for insurance sales, something which had never happened before. Rather than ask directly about this, the security chief stood in the back of the room and listened to the salesman's sales pitch.

The sarariman explained the basics of SCREWED to the new recruits, and then said: "If you have the SCREWED policy and end up serving COBRA in battle against shadowrunners and are killed, COBRA has to pay 200 k to your beneficiaries. If you don't have this policy and are killed while serving COBRA, we only have to pay your beneficiaries a maximum of 6 k .

"Now," he concluded, "which bunch do you think they are going to send against the Joe's first?"

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by stevew

Man, one of these days Im breaking down and buying the DVD set....I used to love GIJOE.

Who could resist?

[corbes]

That's not the Baronness, is it?

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by corbes

That's not the Baronness, is it?

Like I bothered to take the time to ask her name...

[corbes]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Like I bothered to take the time to ask her name...

FYI, it's considered polite in Cobra-La to ask for code names.

[stevew]

Watch out for Major Blood!

"Welcome to New England, Dr. Something, and to your fate!"

I loved my color change zartan. I will admit the shit got dumb when Serpentor was created.

[mordhiem]

Ah, GI Joe.

So, which were better? Comics or Cartoons? I say comics, they seemed to have more depth.

[corbes]

Originally Posted by mordhiem

Ah, GI Joe.

So, which were better? Comics or Cartoons? I say comics, they seemed to have more depth.

Cartoons, because they were conveniently shown on television after school.

Admit it -- you remember the theme song, don't you?

[corbes]

dola-

I also learned most of my important life lessons from the instructional segment at the end. I still remember the day that Mutt taught me not to pet strange dogs...

[Chubby]

I say toons because it went mass market then and EVERYONE knows that knowing is half the battle!

Snake Eyes kicked ass.

[stevew]

Why was the ONLY black dude named "Stalker."

[corbes]

Originally Posted by stevew

Why was the ONLY black dude named "Stalker."

Iceberg
Roadblock
Alpine
Doc

There were some others, too.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by corbes

Ice Berg? Heavy Duty?

There were some others, too.

Im just going with the "Originals."

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by stevew

Why was the ONLY black dude named "Stalker."

Because all the white Joes didn't have to travel to road games they weren't playing in

[ISiddiqui]

$177 a month is outstanding! Of course that depends on what your group health coverage was before (probably not as much as others). According to ERISA (the law that deals with these things), the employer can charge you 102% of the premiums (2% administrative fee), but they can, if they choose, continue to pay their part of the insurance. They usually don't. In fact, they'd rather you not have insurance with them, so if you miss a payment, they'll terminate you right away (but you do have a 30 day grace period, so they have to reinstate you if you get it in during that period... but if not, tought luck).

And yes, this is what I do for work (I work at the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the Department of Labor).

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

$177 a month is outstanding! Of course that depends on what your group health coverage was before (probably not as much as others). According to ERISA (the law that deals with these things), the employer can charge you 102% of the premiums (2% administrative fee), but they can, if they choose, continue to pay their part of the insurance. They usually don't. In fact, they'd rather you not have insurance with them, so if you miss a payment, they'll terminate you right away (but you do have a 30 day grace period, so they have to reinstate you if you get it in during that period... but if not, tought luck).

And yes, this is what I do for work (I work at the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the Department of Labor).

"Depends on what my group health coverage was before"?

As far as what it got me when I worked for them? It covered everything, the $177 includes my prescription plan ($10 for all generics), low deductable and the like.

[Raven Hawk]

$177 is a good deal for coverage on 1 person. If that covers anymore people, its freakin' unbelievable. My guess is that your former employer had some decent leverage with their health insurance provider.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Raven Hawk

$177 is a good deal for coverage on 1 person. If that covers anymore people, its freakin' unbelievable. My guess is that your former employer had some decent leverage with their health insurance provider.

yeah it's just me. i think they have some special deal with blue cross/blue shield which is why they get a hella cheap rate.

[Raven Hawk]

Originally Posted by Chubby

yeah it's just me. i think they have some special deal with blue cross/blue shield which is why they get a hella cheap rate.

Wait . . . do you have an HMO or a PPO?

May not be that good of a deal for an HMO. I just assumed that you had a PPO.

Excellent deal for a PPO. Decent deal for an HMO.

[corbes]

This thread's really gone downhill recently.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by corbes

This thread's really gone downhill recently.

Maybe I need to find a picture of Scarlet or Lady Jane to get it back on track..

[stevew]

Its like a threadjack is trying to take over the threadjack to revert it back to the topic. Not a good sign.

Destro, bad guy or good one, and how the fuck can he breathe with the metal face.....Discuss!!!!!

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Raven Hawk

Wait . . . do you have an HMO or a PPO?

May not be that good of a deal for an HMO. I just assumed that you had a PPO.

Excellent deal for a PPO. Decent deal for an HMO.

It's a PPO (it's in the papers they sent me)

[Radii]

I had Kaiser Permanente Personal Plan for 6 months while I was consulting waiting to go full time, they don't cover pre-existing conditions but for me as a single guy at age 25 that was not a problem. For a single guy who just needs to go to the Dr when you get deathly ill and want coverage in case somethingseriously major happens, I'd look and see if Kaiser is in your area, it worked great for me. At age 25, I paid $109 a month, I could have paid less, they had an $89/mo plan for guys my age but the office visits were $50 each. The $109/mo plan put my visits at $25 each, there was a $130/mo or so plan where visits were $10 each like some of the more solid PPOs.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Radii

I had Kaiser Permanente Personal Plan for 6 months while I was consulting waiting to go full time, they don't cover pre-existing conditions but for me as a single guy at age 25 that was not a problem. For a single guy who just needs to go to the Dr when you get deathly ill and want coverage in case somethingseriously major happens, I'd look and see if Kaiser is in your area, it worked great for me. At age 25, I paid $109 a month, I could have paid less, they had an $89/mo plan for guys my age but the office visits were $50 each. The $109/mo plan put my visits at $25 each, there was a $130/mo or so plan where visits were $10 each like some of the more solid PPOs.

did it have a prescription plan?

my actuall breakdown is $143 for the PPO and $34 for the prescription plan per month.

[CraigSca]

As I said in my "Looking for a Job" dynasty in the other forum, I pay over $1100 a month for a family of four, and our prescription costs are higher than yours. $100+ is a great price to pay.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Radii

I had Kaiser Permanente Personal Plan for 6 months while I was consulting waiting to go full time, they don't cover pre-existing conditions but for me as a single guy at age 25 that was not a problem. For a single guy who just needs to go to the Dr when you get deathly ill and want coverage in case somethingseriously major happens, I'd look and see if Kaiser is in your area, it worked great for me. At age 25, I paid $109 a month, I could have paid less, they had an $89/mo plan for guys my age but the office visits were $50 each. The $109/mo plan put my visits at $25 each, there was a $130/mo or so plan where visits were $10 each like some of the more solid PPOs.

God help you if you ever ARE dealthy ill and have to go to a Kaiser hospital.

[Franklinnoble]

dola... back on track now....

[corbes]

That was from the episode where Scarlett appeared in a David Copperfield performance, right?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

God help you if you ever ARE dealthy ill and have to go to a Kaiser hospital.

we had Kaiser for years in the mid 90s in North Carolina, my mom had a lot of surgery and had a lot of problems while on Kaiser, and AFAIK we were very happy with them the entire time, and they only went elsewhere for healthcare b/c the Kaiser office in Raleigh closed. for me I just wanted the cheapest option that offered legitimate coverage so I wouldn't end up in debt for life if I had to go to the hospital.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Radii

we had Kaiser for years in the mid 90s in North Carolina, my mom had a lot of surgery and had a lot of problems while on Kaiser, and AFAIK we were very happy with them the entire time, and they only went elsewhere for healthcare b/c the Kaiser office in Raleigh closed. for me I just wanted the cheapest option that offered legitimate coverage so I wouldn't end up in debt for life if I had to go to the hospital.

Well, from my experience in the Kaiser hospitals here in Sacramento, I'd rather seek treatment in a third-world communist country. They're sloppy, unprofessional, and highly incompetent.

[Logan]

Some of this concise info of how COBRA and ERISA works could have helped me when I was studying for my HR exam yesterday...