What is COBRA and how does it compare to individual health insurance plan

hi everyone I hope you are doing well during this unprecedented times working from full time from home while also helping children with school and cooking at home is certainly a challenge for me however I'm grateful that I do have a job and we're healthy in the last few months I got a few quite a few phone calls from people who lost their jobs and we're looking to transition into an individual health insurance plan among

some of the top questions that God during this time were related to Cobra what is Cobra how can it benefit my family how much does it cost how and when to apply for Cobra how does it compare to an individual health insurance plan and so on and so on I will address all these questions in this video and I hope it will help you have a better understanding of Cobra rules and regulations if you are new to my channel

please spare a moment and subscribe to my channel and if you can like or share my video I will appreciate this as well thank you for that and what is Cobra what sounds like some sort of snake well it's not but it can hurt just as much as a snake bite if you don't play by the rules Cobra is a federal law that requires certain employers to provide

continuous health insurance coverage to the previously covered employers employees including spouses and dependents with the same health insurance coverage that the employee had during his or her employment the recipients must pay for benefits on their own in other words if you lost your job and as a result your health insurance coverage Cobra will allow you to keep the same health insurance plan for a limited period of time but you

have to pay the big-box this coverage yourself in general Cobra and only applies to employers with 20 or more employees however some states require insurance covering employers with fewer than 20 employees to let them keep their coverage for a limited period of time employees already insured my continued single or family health dental

or vision coverage for a maximum of 18 months if coverage is lost due to one of the following reasons employment is terminated either voluntary or involuntary for any reason other than gross misconduct or if work hours are reduced below the eligibility criteria making the employee in eligible for coverage for example changing to a part-time position dependents already insured may continue coverage under

Cobra for 18 months based on the reasons listed that I just mentioned for employees and dependents may continue coverage for an additional 18 months maximum of 36 months if coverage is lost due to one of the following reasons the employees death or the employee and spouse divorce a dependent child is no longer eligible as dependent if over age of 26 unless incapacitated if the employee

becomes entitled to Medicare within 18 months prior to termination of employment the covered dependents may continue coverage for up to 36 months from the employees Medicare entitlement if you are age 65 or older before you elect Cobra make sure you talk with your insurance agent or state and health insurance assistance program about Part B D and Medigap if you don't have to I mean you don't have to take Cobra if you

can find another health insurance plan on the individual market with similar benefit so monthly premiums or even better sometimes you can find even better options on the individual market but it's not guaranteed obviously before you make any decisions find a good insurance broker who can I do similar insurance plans and compare it for you side by side this way you will be able to see a clearer picture and make an educated decision regarding what to do next

keep in mind that you usually have 60 days to do all this research comparison and decision making whether to stay with Cobra or switch to an individual health insurance plan so use this time wisely otherwise you will lose the opportunity to get an insurance plan and you will have to wait until the next open enrollment starts to apply for an individual health plan now if you have questions or would like to see a

comparison of options please feel free to reach out I am a licensed insurance agent in California and will be glad to help you compare health insurance plans side-by-side you can also go on our website and run a quote on your own I will have the link to my website and other useful resources in the description of this video and thank you

everyone for watching stay safe and I will see you in my next video you