Federal COBRA Benefits A Challenge For Downsized Workers

BEWARE! Insurance companies are using unscrupulous practices to get policyholders off its rolls!

While I understand that these companies need to make a buck to keep afloat, there must be some better way to make more money than to void a policy for just 2 cents!

Take Stan Rosen of Miramar, Miami. He lost his job, his wife was six months’ pregnant and he faced an operation and he had COBRA benefits to help make ends meet.

Then, by mistake he underpaid his November bill by two cents (!!), and his benefits administrator said his policy was being canceled. Rosen and his wife, saw “making ends meet” slip through their fingers.

He quickly paid the two cents (!!), and it got reinstated. But ONLY after he and his dad called about 100 times and got The Miami Herald involved that the company relented and continued coverage.

The Rosens’ case is an extreme example an incident that’s becoming more widespread: Laid-off workers are struggling through a bureaucratic labyrinth to keep health insurance while insurers and former employers have little to no interest in aiding them beyond what is required by federal and state laws.

What is COBRA?

COBRA (or Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) is a law signed into effect by President Ronald Reagan that mandates an insurance program that helps employees continue health, disability insurance and postal services even in the event they are out of a job.

Federal COBRA coverage mandates companies with more than 20 employees to offer their laid-off workers as much as 18 months of health insurance, as long as the worker pays the entire cost of the premium.

Current COBRA coverage can easily cost $1,200 a month for a family, and that may be too expensive for most. The Obama administration last year began the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to subsidize 65 percent of COBRA costs for up to nine months, but many still can’t afford it.

What About COBRA for Companies With Less Than 20 Employees?

On the flip side, companies with fewer than 20 employees are covered by a state law, but people who have had to use it, like Robert Dollar of Miami, say it’s even more convoluted than the federal law.

“My COBRA has turned into a hysterical joke,” says Dollar, who pays $712.34 a month just to cover his wife.

Federal law requires large companies to give departing employees a thick COBRA packet stuffed with explanations. But state law makes an exception to small companies, like the one Dollar worked for.

Scores of phone calls and sent faxes later, Dollar’s efforts to contact his former company’s insurer, Neighborhood Health, to get the continuation coverage, was wasted when his former company switched to Aetna. The dismayed Dollar had to go through the whole process again. “It’s a maze of stuff,” he said.

Insurers Say COBRA Is A Liability To Them

According to Gran LeCompte, an executive with MDW Insurance in Coral Gables, Fla., says that for employers and insurers, COBRA is “a major pain in the butt. … There’s a ton of liability.”

A major key problem for insurers is that young and healthy employees who are confident of finding work tend to reject COBRA, while older and sicker and less confident workers will grab it. “Typically those who take COBRA coverage cost two to five times ((more) in benefits than a normal employee costs,” LeCompte says.

Furthermore, Federal law seek to keep insurers and employers in line by penalizing them for infractions. LeCompte says that means most big companies outsource the details to a company specializing in COBRA coverage and administration.

Rosen’s COBRA insurer is Ceridian, who spotted that Rosen had paid $334.97 for his November bill, rather than the proper amount of $334.99.

Federal law allows a month’s grace period to pay the full bill, but Rosen did not learn about the two-cent problem until he received his next bill, at the end of November, past the grace period that expired Dec. 3, which terminated the Rosens’ coverage.

Joe Brown, spokesman for Ceridian Benefits Services, told The Miami Herald the company was required to follow the letter of the law “or the company would be held liable.” Its legal responsibility was to administer Rosen’s insurance for his former employer, a Miami Beach hotel.

But Jay Rosen kept working at it.. He called the offices of a senator and representative. He called the former employer, and he kept hounding Ceridian reps. “The normal person would have given up long before I did,” he says.

Eventually, the insurer decided to forgive the two cents, and the Rosen policy was reinstated.

COBRA Benefits Eligibility Cut-Off Extended to March 01, 2010

The federal subsidy of 65 percent was slated to end Dec. 31, 2009, but just before the Christmas recess, Congress decided to extend its benefits: Workers laid off before March 1 can qualify for help, and all can get up to 15 months of subsidy.

In the reform packages now before Congress, the House version has a provision that people with COBRA could retain their coverage until the insurance exchanges start.

Those would allow everyone without employer-based coverage to sign up for a plan, regardless of preexisting conditions, with subsidies based on income levels. Such exchanges are not scheduled to start before 2013.

Beyond COBRA – So Why Not Cover Yourself Even More Thoroughly?

You know what? Insurance is Personal. Even if people are laid-off and tight with money, I believe that insurance is even more vital to keep going even for just minimal coverage.

So here’s a thought. Why not buy a term life insurance policy? Why not get more health insurance even if you lack cash? You can definitely buy very cheap health insurance even if you’re tight.

Would you believe you can get a good health insurance policy at ONLY $49 online? You betcha.

How to do it? You need to get as many quotes as you can. Shop around. Make sure you have all health insurance quotes in one place, then decide.

You don’t have to go to every insurance site too. You save a lot of time by using providers that give health insurance quotes for free at no charge. No money down and they only want your attention to refer to their large list of insurance companies who will be more than willing to underprice each other to sell you a policy.

That’s why online insurance policies are cheap and just as good if not better than meeting with an agent face to face. He just has more competition online.

Make them bleed for it then.

More Power To Us,
Life Insurance Quotes For Consumers
“Insurance is Personal.”

Phils Musings

Make A Will Dont Leave It to Chance

Your will   is written to help your family sort out the disposal of your estate when you’ve bit the dust. Whilst yours may be simple, here are one or two with some quirks to them.

Make A Will Don’t Leave It to Chance
It makes sense to make a will. The majority of us realize this, but actually getting around to it seems such a chore.  How much consideration went in these “wills with a difference”?

Even the legendary magician and escapologist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t trick death. Having perished from a ruptured appendix, one of his biggest shocks came with the will reading. His magicians equipment went to his former partner Theodore, who was in addition his brother. His magical skills fizzled on the next section – his appreciable array of scrolls on magic and the supernatural. He left these to the American Society for Psychical Research, but only on the condition that their research officer J Malcolm Bird, who additionally was the editor of their journal, resigned. They turned down the conditions the collection was given to the Library of Congress.

The trained rabbits that he used in his tricks vacated their hats and were distributed amongst the children of friends. Continuing the odd theme, his gave his spouse 10 words, which were a secret code, with the assurance that he would use these words to reach her from the afterlife. Every year for ten years, following his death, she faithfully held séances, but Houdini never made contact.

Rock and blues singer Janis Lyn Joplin had a short but interesting career. She wrote many rock anthems and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of substance abuse, she passed away from an overdose, aged 27. Two days prior to her demise in 1970 her uk online wills      the sum of $2,500 to sponsor an all night party at her favourite pub so that her mates could “get blasted after I’m gone.” It must have been some wake – that was a sizable amount of cash back in 1970.

We’ve all read about people that, randomly, leave all their estate to the dogs’ home, much to the disbelief of their relatives. Many family rows start when a will is read. As long as there is no reason to doubt the clear thinking and freewill of the person when the will is written, there is often little that can be done to contest such a decision.

Eccentricities apart, if you die without leaving a will, the people who you would wish to inherit wont always be the ones that do so. You could have a partner of several years, but if you’re not married or in a legal partnership, he or she won’t get your money, regardless of your intentions and assurances. This can be problematic when it’s not clearly stated and can cause devastating financial consequences.

The current way to get your will started is to search online and source a cheaper wills      . However basic your wishes are, it’s advisable to have the professionals to make it for you and you can be confident that you’re leaving your estate exactly how you would want.

After 250 Years Congress Acknowledges Robert Burns Scots Poet For His Support For American Independence.

Robert Burns Scotland’s National Poet created a big impact on the American House of Representatives earlier this year. Burns proved beyond all doubt that he had helped inspire many of the early founding fathers of America. In return The House of Representatives passed a resolution recognising his role and encouraging the 200 plus organisations in the USA to continue forging links between Scotland and The USA.

Congressman Mike McIntyre of North Carolina proposed and steered the resolution through the House of Representatives in February 2009. North Carolina is of course the US State where thousands of early Scottish settlers put down their roots and now boosts more people who pride themselves in their Scottish ancestry than there are Scots living in the whole of Scotland.

The Resolution also recognised that Robert Burns had truly inspired the Founding Fathers of America writing inspirational poems such as “Ode for General Washington’s Birthday” and “Ballard on the American War”.

“Scots Wha Hae”

One of Robert Burns most famous songs Scots Wha Hae has long been recognised as the unofficial Battle Cry for Scotland’s own independence from foreign rule was actually inspired by the American struggle for Independence from the same ruling country.

Robert Burns was one of many who hoped that the American victory for independence would lead to similar revolutions right across Europe including of course the Scots claim for independence against the English rule.

President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was one of many Americans who took part in Burns Night celebrations. Shortly before his election he not only attended but gave the famous immortal speech to remind every person there exactly why they are meeting to celebrate the birth and life of Robert Burns who was an inspiration to so many around the world. It was reported that Lincoln was so moved enough by Robert Burns life and his poetry he tried with mixed success to give the address in an America version of the Scots Tongue (not and easy task for anyone to do even us born and living in Scotland would have to practice this).