Yeah, I tried all of that. I'll spare you the details, but things just lined up in a way that made me ineligible for COBRA, but the insurance that I had at my previous employer was absolute trash and they wouldn't have covered a single thing anyway. It was the only option given aside from Kaiser (my Kaiser saga is an even longer story), and even before this emergency it covered almost nothing.
My prescriptions seemed kind of high so I checked with GoodRx and they were cheaper! Cheaper without insurance than with, like how does that even make sense?
Right now I'm trying to negotiate on my last and only unpaid bill, the hospital won't negotiate with 1st parties so I've been trying to go through a newer company called Goodbill or something. I can't vouch for them yet as it's still in process, but just trying to get this all out of the way so I can just move on. Honestly, this whole thing has been so terrible that I'm just like, nope you're not even going in the worry pile. I'll go through the motions, pay it as best I can, and move on. I'll save the worry for the next totally normal work meeting coming up :)
I'm just very fortunate that I don't have a family to support or a mortgage to pay, even though I've been very close to breaking my lease and moving in with my parents until I can get back on my feet. I mean, I make good money too, I never thought I'd be in this situation.
I will absolutely go through the insurance options with a fine toothed comb when I interview again. Mama mía, aye yay yay
Talk to an FCRA lawyer. There are certain notices that if you send them and they are ignored can let you remove the lines from your credit report should they mark them as defaulted on. They will likely also help if the hospital chooses to sue.
I very much appreciate the tip, I'll check that out. Thank you! It's amazing how much time and work I've put into this and more info just keeps coming up. Crazy thing for people to navigate.
I don't know about poster, but offering COBRA isn't required for companies below a certain size. (I had to unexpectedly obtain private insurance to cover a gap in the pre-Obamacare era because the co I worked for only had a few employees.) It is a qualifying event for using the exchanges, but no idea about that being retroactive.
Fun Fact: COBRA coverage doesn’t exist when your startup shuts down and you’re laid off.
This did not stop my insurance company from cashing my premium payments for over three months, even though they silently canceled my policy (no email, mail, or phone call). I only learned I had no coverage when I actually tried to have a dental appointment. Refunds of these premium payments took another another 3 months to be returned!
Sigh. This isn't your fault. But COBRA is retroactive. EG. You have 60 days to find new insurance with a new employer. So you don't have to ever pay for COBRA. IF / when something happens - you pay all the missed bills and you are covered. That is the entire point of COBRA. People paying for COBRA are using it wrong or can't find employment in 60 days.
Not technically true when I used it last. I did have to pay for it.
"Employers may require individuals to pay for COBRA continuation coverage. Premiums cannot exceed the full cost of coverage, plus a 2 percent administration charge."
But yes, the American Rescue Plan act allocated funds to make COBRA free. I wouldn't doubt that I was using cobra wrong at the time either prior to the passage of the act.
Small pdf warning:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
My probably naive understanding was that COBRA can be activated retroactively if you get in an accident during the coverage gap.