Health Insurance after you’ve been laid off
The recession is making it hard for everyone to earn a decent living. During the last year, millions of Americans have lost their jobs because of the recession. Besides the emotional and financial consequence of losing a steady paycheck, one of the issues that a lot of laid-off employees are concerned about is their health care.
An employer effectively stops paying the employee's health insurance on the last day of the month when employment ended. It is critical for a person to look for health insurance while he is in-between jobs. This is because even if he finds employment immediately, his health insurance coverage will only restart after 30 days of employment on the first day of the next month.
There is at least a two-month gap that should be filled. In addition, a person can be considered lucky if he is able to find work immediately. The recession has put an end to hiring in a lot of industries. Below are some alternatives a laid-off employee can look into:
Short Term Medical Insurance - this health insurance plan can range from a single month to three years.
COBRA - if you worked for a company with 20+ employees, you are allowed to keep your health insurance for up to 18 months at your own expense.
Individual Conversion - this has the same results with the COBRA option but it is designed for the employees of smaller enterprises.
These three options allow employees who had been laid-off to enjoy medical benefits until their next employment.