Unemployed? 4 Ways to Avoid COBRA's Bite

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Yes, these are pretty lame.
I may be wrong on this, but I do NOT advise relying on the "wait 60 days" tactic - if you already have a chronic illness (diabetes for example) and you wait 60 days - guess what? Your new employer can say you had a gap in coverage for 60 days, and then - you will not be covered for your (expensive) diabetes care & drugs because you have a pre-existing condition. Whereas, if you had kept the COBRA, you cannot be told it's not covered, in most cases. This is because you had no gap in insurance coverage.
Here's my tip which I will call 4-A: Get Hugh Laurie to marry you. He makes about $400,000 per episode of House, which is more than I paid for my kidney/pancreas transplant. This is my plan. (No more nonsensical than the article).

Allison of SC 8:39PM January 16, 2009

no health care for gays.

Rabbit of CA 7:31PM January 16, 2009

Solution:
1) Your HMO should be required to provide you with sliding scale life insurance (Payout $1Million if younger than 20y,$5k if older than 80y). This gives them a BIG reason to keep you alive!
2) For every application an HMO denies, it should be required to accept 1 person chosen at random from the denied pool.
3) The HMO with the best track record (for keeping their clients alive) at the end of each year gets a $5000/client REWARD PRIZE from the feds (who spend $600 billion a year on medacare today). A smaller prize for 2nd & 3rd place.
problem solved!
Medicine does not have to be socialized, just properly structured and subsidized, with rewards for a job well done! The sliding scale for each person would be adjusted for pre-existing conditions (cancer patient cant be expected to live as long healthy person). We would not even need Medacare anymore! The HMO would have BIG incentives to keep people alive as long as possible. People with prexisting conditions (old, obese, or poor) would have to be subsidized of course.

Rationalist of CA 2:48PM January 16, 2009

Try telling someone with a pre-existing condition, to delay enrolling in COBRA. What if both spouses are unemployed?? What advice do you have for that scenario?? As for state coverage...it's awful! Very limited services and you need a referral for everything! This was not good advice. My solution: Offer private coverage for laid off workers for no more than 25% of their income. The guidelines should be as followed:
They have to show proof that they are a displaced worker and had coverage within 30 days of losing their job, they can only use the coverage until they find another job with benefits and they can't be on welfare. They also can't keep this coverage if their new employer offers coverage. It should only be available to unemployed individuals and families. Either way, something needs to give.

Cassie of IL 1:57PM January 16, 2009

I ALSO AGREE I TO WORK AT A TOBACCO STORE AND IF I LOSE MY JOB THERE IS NO UNEMPLOYMENT FOR ME! THERE FOR I COULD NOT AFORD COBRA.
THERE FOR THIS IF GOING TO YET DECLINE MORE JOBS THIS IS NOT A FIX FOR WHAT IS HAPPING IN ARE WORLD OF PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME.
FOR ONCE CAN THEY TARGET OTHER THINGS OTHER THAN TOBACCO AND THE AMERICAN INDIAN

TRACI of WA 3:06PM January 15, 2009

Please, PLEASE, if you have any type of significant medical history or chronic illness don't even think about having a lapse in coverage. If you have a lapse you may find it very difficult to get insurance without an evidence of insurability. Your rates will go through the roof.
Something has to be done about healthcare in this country and maybe that will be the good thing that comes out of this economic mess.
http://aftercancernowwhat.blogspot.com

Kate of NC 2:04PM January 15, 2009

If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait 'til it's free. Brilliant, the people who brought us Social Security (the mother of all ponzi schemes), the financial crisis, and trillion dollar deficits should run healthcare more than they already do. That's scary.

Tom Abdella of VA 11:18PM January 13, 2009

Move to Canada

of IN 12:32PM January 13, 2009

53% of senators, 36% of of the congress and nearly 60% of us presidents ARE (were) lawyers.

sharon kelly of KY 11:16PM January 12, 2009

Has any ever noticed which companies seem to have the newest and fanciest offices? i wonder who is paying for theses offices? will we ever get leaders in washington with the guts to fix the problems this country faces?

Rich Skrivseth of WI 9:24PM January 12, 2009