Health insurance for unemployed

To get access to high-quality health care, Americans need to have good health insurance policy and solid income. Most unemployed Americans don’t have either. Considering the fact that most of the health insurance policies are obtained through the employer, unemployed U.S. citizens face huge problems when it comes to finding a suitable insurance plan.

Interesting fact: employee-sponsored coverage helps you to save money, as it usually costs less than the individual insurance plan, but still provides good benefits. Besides, your employer makes partial contributions to help you meet the cost of the annual premiums. When you lose your job, you lose all the provided benefits and have to look for an individual health insurance plan, most of them are usually more expensive and offer less comprehensive coverage for higher cost. Staying without a health insurance is not a solution too, because then you will be required to spend lots of money on medical treatment and this can lead to financial disaster, considering the unemployed status.

However, don’t get upset at once. There are federal programs and some private insurance providers, who have experience providing coverage for unemployed on a temporary basis.

The federal provision, called Consolidation Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) allows you to qualify for getting health benefits, provided by your previous employer. This program lets former employees and retirees to prolong their access to the group health insurance which they had while working for a certain period of time. COBRA is an excellent choice for those, who plan their resignation ahead of time.

In order to be eligible for COBRA, you have to meet certain criteria: you resigned less than 60 days ago, you resigned for any reason besides gross misconduct and you were eligible for the group coverage up to the last day of employment.

However, COBRA program can be very expensive. While you will be getting all the benefits, the same as before, you must be ready that it will cost significantly more.

Another option for unemployed, is obtaining a short-term health insurance plan. If you are sure that you won’t stay without a job for a long time, you should consider obtaining a short-term plan. Short-term health insurance will provide less comprehensive coverage, but it will be enough to protect you from an emergency, until you find a long term solution or became a part of the group insurance plan at the new workplace. Short-term policies are generally issued for 6 months, although there are 12 month offers.

Unemployment can tremendously change your life. You will need to cut some expenses in order to save money, to be able to pay for medical treatment. However, try to find a health insurance plan right after resignation, because in case something catastrophic happens, you will not have to pay for your medical bill out of your pocket.