Mary Beth Writes

Health Insurance when you are laid off

Pals, I was reading letters at a website I look at often. A woman wrote that her 62-year old husband had been unexpectedly laid-off from his job. She said she didn't know where to begin to think about health insurance (and a lot more).  I talked to Len.  Man, we have been here.
This is what Len wrote. This answer is too long to post on someone else's website so we are sharing it here. 
...
Says Len:
You are in a difficult situation.  You can buy a medical insurance policy through an agent, outside of any state exchange and outside of the ACA (Obamacare).  It might cover you, your spouse and any children.  There are many different kinds of policies, which an agent will explain.  You will probably find that the policy costs a great deal more than you would have thought and the coverage will not cover many of the things you feel are important.

You have two more options:  buying healthcare through the ACA (Obamacare) or continuing your existing plan through COBRA.  
If you buy insurance through the ACA, it will have certain minimum health care needs covered.  There are differences between plans, but they are summarized and described on the ACA website.  They also rate plans as "Gold/Silver/Bronze" to help you.  It is confusing, and kind of mind-numbing, but you should be able to see what is available and make a decision.  When you compare policies, you will also see the cost, which is quite expensive.  The important point about the ACA plans is that the price shown is the "list price."  After you make a selection, a second part of the ACA shows you how much the government will help pay; that reduces the amount that you actually pay for health insurance.  
This is worth repeating.  The process is, first, you tell the website how much you think you will earn in the course of the year.  They take that amount and decide how much they can give you to help you pay for the insurance.  That means that the Gold plan is still more than the Bronze plan, but the total amount you pay is much more affordable if you have a limited income.
Two fast notes:  The amount of support you get depends on income; rich people don't get as much as poor people.  You tell the ACA how much you think you will earn; at the end of the year, when you do your taxes, you tell them how much you actually earned.  If you earned more than the estimate, you will need to pay back the ACA.   Also, people talk about "Open enrollment period."  That is for people who had no insurance before.  If you lose your job and health benefits, it becomes a 'Qualifying Event,' and you can get coverage through the ACA at that time.  So, the open enrollment issue doesn't apply to you. 
ACA isn't the only way to go.  It sounds as if your husband was earning a substantial salary at his previous job.  It may be that he will get work elsewhere soon, with or without health care.  If that's the case, then you won't get much support to help you pay down the premium.  If he does not get another job, the support might be considerable.  You need to make this estimation when you decide what you want to do.
If your husband had good health insurance at his previous job, you might want to consider COBRA.  That lets you keep the same health coverage you had when you were working; except that you pay the whole thing.  You will discover that your previous employer paid quite a bit of the premium, and COBRA is expensive.  One bright light is that, in a group plan, everyone gets the same rate as one another; old people don't pay more than young people.  In our case, I worked at a job that had many young employees, which meant that the premiums for all employees was sort of low.  When I was laid off I was 63, and I found that the COBRA coverage was actually cheaper than coverage through the ACA.  
You can't get government support to help you pay down the premiums through COBRA coverage; on the other hand, that means you don't have to make any estimates about your income and if you get a part-time job or free-lance, you won't pay any more.  The downside of COBRA is that you can only maintain it for 18 months; at that time, you will need to find another solution (including coverage through the ACA).

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Comments

Submitted by Katrina on January 16, 2018 - 1:50am
Thank you for your notes on obtaining health insurance. We have lots to decide within the next month so your thoughts were very helpful.

Submitted by Mary Beth on January 16, 2018 - 9:42am
Good Luck! Len and I know very few people our ages who retired in a calm , orderly, and predictable way. It seems as if the employment market is so volatile that most of us are being squeezed out by market pressures on businesses. If they CAN let go of their older employees, they do. Not fun, but we can do this.

Submitted by Holly on January 16, 2018 - 11:44am
They are tax credits. What tax credit is income?

Submitted by Mary Beth on January 16, 2018 - 3:26pm
You are right, Holly. This statement of ours is wrong, "Also, the amount that the ACA gives you to help pay the premium is taxable income." One does have to pay properly adjusted taxes on whatever income one earns - but the assistance to help pay ACA premiums in not new income - so one wouldn't pay taxes on it. You'd just have to pay up to whatever your designated amount was for that year. Thanks for noting that. Next day: I removed that sentence, in case you are a VERY detail-minded person, wondering what just happened here.

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Mindful Chickens/ The "Before its Too Late" Edition 5-14-2019

Mindful Chickens   5/14/2019

Other people call them “frugal things I did lately”. I call them Mindful Chickens because they are about:

1. Being Cheap (cheap, cheep).

2. Being thoughtful about how choices affect our community and our earth.

3. Paying attention to the constant tumble of dollars and choices.

…

These are things we have thought, attempted, and done in the past month to live more lightly and frugally on our City Plot of Planet Earth.

We have to change how we live ...

We can’t go on like this.  Our everyday Western/American lifestyle -- is utterly unsustainable. 

Bread, Tortillas, and Chocolate

 As many of you know, I follow a website called The Non-Consumer Advocate, written by Katy Wolk-Stanley who defines herself as “… library patron, leftovers technician, Goodwill enthusiast, utility bill scholar, labor and delivery nurse, laundry hanger-upper, mother and citizen.” She has purchased very little newly-manufactured consumer goods since she joined The Compact; a movement of people who choose to rethink mindless consumption. http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/

…

The Money for Our Brother is Raised

We got the balls rolling!

Irony of the universe here.  I have written a lot this week but none of it turned into writing I wanted to post on this website.  Just awkward, mawkish, rambly writing.

I was hard-thinking why I do this and it wasn’t self-pitying thinking.  (I know how to do that, too, but this wasn’t that.) 

Then late yesterday afternoon Helle said Our Brother needs help and the total of what he needs is more than she could support him with. I said I would think about it.

April 15th is a Rough Day for Many

Here’s something I bet many of you of the “white privilege” class are not aware.

I sure wasn’t thinking about this until yesterday.

Monday is April 15th. All of us know what that means, don’t we?  Ha-ha. Time to get our taxes posted or an extension applied for!

Know what else it is?

Utility cut-off date.  Monday is the last day for people who owe money to their utility companies to pay those bills. If they don’t, their heat and lights go off Tuesday.

Mindful Chickens – Carrot & Grape Oatmeal 3/23/2019

Other people call them “frugal things I did lately”. I call them Mindful Chickens because they are about:

1. Being Cheap (cheap, cheep).

2. Being thoughtful about how choices affect our community and our earth.

3. Paying attention to the constant tumble of dollars and choices.

... 

1. I’ve spent hours lately working on two self-inflicted writing projects. One is about the Midwest in the 1600-1800’s. Why do I care? I don’t know but I’ve been working at it for a long time and I still am.

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