| Date Added: February 11, 2009 12:59:15 AM | |
| Author: charles peeler | |
| Category: | |
| Today we are facing the toughest economy since the Great Depression of 1929. Millions of Americans are facing lay-offs and the unemployment line. Also, with the limited creation of new jobs thousands of Texans are finding it almost unbearable to continue with their group coverage on the limited revenue they have at their disposal. That’s why we created the “COBRA Buyers Guide” for Texas health insurance.�If you have been laid off you probably already know what COBRA is. Simply put, COBRA is designed to allow former employees of companies with greater than 20 workers to continue their present insurance coverage at an inflated rate. This coverage is only valid for 18 in most cases.�I have published several articles on COBRA and you owe it to yourself to read them.�The critical items that consumers need to know about this process are listed below.� Decisions related to Texas health insurance must be made and processed within 63 days from receipt of COBRA letter.Now, what should you do after being notified of your job loss? First off, you only have a small window of time to execute your health care decisions. You are allowed a 63 day window to make decisions and elect COBRA. That may seem like ample time to do something, but in reality it’s not. In the event you choose to go a different direction other than COBRA it can sometimes take upwards of 45 days to get approval for an individual health insurance policy in Texas. Generally you can get approval within two or three weeks, but in about a third of the cases it can go out past one month. The last thing you want is for that 63 day clock to expire.� Not all family members have to take COBRA and in most cases even the former employee can decline coverage while insuring other family members.In most cases just because you are the employee affected with the job loss does not mean that you must take COBRA on yourself in order to provide COBRA for another family member. Let’s say one family member has a health condition that would preclude them for purchasing an individual Texas health insurance policy, generally you can elect COBRA on that family member and remove the remaining members as well as yourself from coverage. This will drastically reduce your monthly cost to COBRA. I would advise you to call the insurance company and confirm this practice as well as get a monthly price for the members that will possibly continue COBRA coverage. This trick will then allow all healthy family members to purchase an individual Texas health insurance policy and substantially lower premiums. � Do not, under any circumstances allow coverage to lapse or go uninsured. During unemployment I know money is tight, health insurance is sometimes seen as expendable. I have heard all the lines in my 16 years in the Texas health insurance market. Hearing things like, we never use it or we never get sick are a very disturbing for me to hear. I’m glad you never get sick, good for you. Up until I was 40 I didn’t either, but things change. The problem though is some of the laws we have related to health insurance in Texas. The biggie is if a lapse in coverage of greater than 63 days occurs your credit for pre existing conditions will vanish and you will be faced with a waiting periods of up to 24 months on new Texas health insurance coverage. The critical key, DO NOT ALLOW COVERAGE TO LAPSE! �Laws related to Texasindividual health coverage works closely the same as group, it states that as long as there has not been a 63 day gap in coverage and the condition is listed on the application there is no pre existing unless the Texas health insurance company excludes it by name. �I hope this illustrates the importance of keeping that “continuous” flow going and not allowing the break in coverage to happen. I promise you that if an insurance company notices that you have broken that 63 day magic number they will “nit pick” almost every claim. So the key, any credible coverage, regardless of deductible and benefit configuration is better than no coverage.� Any old policy will do, providing it is recognized as “credible �coverage”.Credible coverage is the only type of policy that will satisfy the pre existing condition clause. Credible coverage generally falls into the major medical family of policies. Texas health insurance has so many variations available that you must be careful what you purchase if you are electing something other than COBRA. Policies that will not satisfy the credible coverage terms would be discount cards and some limited benefit hospital plans. Generally dealing with an experienced veteran agent or broker will do the trick.���Ok, now what do you do now? Well, here is what I would do, call or email�me or get a Texas health insurance quote from our website. All the plans that I have running on the Peeler Insurance website are solid doctor co-pay plans, these plans best resemble your present group coverage. These plans will meet every requirement I have mentioned above. Below are some important points when dealing with Peeler Insurance.� IF every family member is free of any medications, no pre existing condition, no surgeries in the last 12 months and your height and weight fall within acceptable standards then you should be OK to run the rate for yourself free of agent intervention. However, I would prefer to speak with you so as to insure we are selecting the correct plan for your family. � Keep in mind that all plans on the automated Peeler Insurance website are doctor co-pay plans. High Deductible HSA Qualified Texas health plans and low cost Catastrophic Texas health insurance �can only be done by speaking to me personally. In these economic times you owe it to yourself to explore these options as sometimes you can save hundreds of dollars a month more. � One of our biggest and best�Texas health insurance companies can only be quoted manually. Cigna Health Insurance offers some of the lowest rates in Texasbut at this time we are forced to run Cigna on another software program. Cigna requires this in order to migrate with their software system. � Peeler Insurance works with most of the major�Texas health insurance companies�and each one has a different set of standards as it relates to offering coverage. Sometimes not everyone will be approved but after 16 years in the Texas individual health insurance market I know what most insurance companies will and won’t accept. Speaking with me personally is very important in order to provide you the best advice on how each different Texas health insurance company will view your health status and history.�Be prepared to save several hundred dollars a month, most times we find that COBRA premiums are twice or three times as much as You must be logged in to leave a rating.Average rating: ( votes) |
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