My DH lost his job today! COBRA questions

My husband called me an hour ago. His job was eliminated today. He carries our insurance - now what do I do???
I've waited to have hyster until I was "ready" and because we've built a house, moved . . . just haven't had time options. Now I'm finally in the process of scheduling TAH. Dr says my endo is very extensive, and I'm in near constant pain.

My DH wants me to call my gyn and tell him I can't schedule surgery now. He's not sure how COBRA works, and isn't sure if we'll be able to afford even our out of pocket portion and the premiums without his job. I've been too scared to do the surgery before now, and now I'm terrified that I WON'T have the surgery.

Does anyone know how COBRA works? What if I don't have surgery now and we go on insurance that excludes pre-existing conditions? I have been living with endo for so long, and now I just can't stand the thought of doing it any longer!!

Oh no!

My husband lost his job 10 months ago--and 13 months before that. I know how hard that is on so many levels.

A first step might be to find out a bit more about COBRA--what is covered, at what levels, and at what cost? If you could manage to pay for even one more month of insurance, that might give you some options.

Once you know your options, you could contact your doctor. Explain the situation, and see if there's any way you could move the surgery up to say, a week or two from now. The insurance person there might have an idea how to arrange things so you are covered for post-op visits as well.

Meanwhile, take deep breaths, give your husband lots of , and have a if you need to. And come back here as much as you need to

You'll have to go on COBRA. Or find a short term plan because of the pre-existing condition. I'm in that same boat right now.




Denise

You can visit cobrainsurance.com to find answers to your specific situation. Good luck to you!

From my experience when I lost my job a few years back, I had the same coverage with cobra for 30 days after the job loss and so I got everything I could done. I would move quickly and call your doctor right away and explain the situation, hopefully they can schedule your surgery within that 30 day period (if that's how yours works). I'd call your husbands insurance company or even talk to his employer today and find out the quicker you find out the quicker you can get it done if you need to.

Thanks everyone!! My husband did call the HR person to ask about COBRA, but hasn't heard back. I was at my GP today about an ear issue, and he also said, get the surgery ASAP. I REALLY hope that works out.
cmtsp - Thanks for the website. I'll check that out.

My dh is on ltd and they made us pay cobra for the first year he was off (until they realized this and just made us pay the regular amount) Our cobra was around $700 dollars a month for both of us but it was exactly the same insurance as we had before...did your dh get anything when he lost his job? Vacation time...PTO....anything? Good Luck!

When my DH lost his job a couple of years ago we went on Cobra. It was the exact same insurance we had been having but we had to pay the whole premium. I'd do my best to try to do that too, to avoid any pre-existing conditions possibilities. Maybe your GP can give you some help with getting things moving quickly?

Best wishes.

I found out the first 30 days are at the same cost as employee cost. Then Obama's stimulus package includes a 65% federal subsidy for cobra premiums for 9 months!!! The out of pocket max will still be tough to swing, but I hadn't heard about the federal subsidy. HUGE praise!!
I called my surgeon, and he said he can do my TAH next Friday, April 10!!!
Yeah! and Yikes!

That is quick!
Best wishes, I hope that everything goes well for you.