When you lose coverage through an employer sponsored group plan, you have the option of electing to continue your coverage under COBRA, generally for 18 months.
Ed retired in October of 2017. The end of COBRA is one of several qualifying events that result in a Special Election Period (SEP), which provides Ed and his wife the opportunity to buy new individual coverage May 1st without regard to pre-existing
conditions.
And that’s really good news for someone like Ed who recently started extensive treatment for cancer.
Good news indeed. But not perfect.
His new individual policy will give him no credit for the deductible satisfied year to date under his old plan. We can mitigate that partially by selling Ed and his (generally healthy) wife separate policies; Ed will buy a low deductible gold plan, his wife a less expensive bronze
plan.
Then there’s the issue of where Ed will receive his cancer treatment. The plans we can sell Ed have limitations on out of network care.
How does the average consumer figure all this out?
In this context, I believe that is the epitome of a rhetorical question!
