Laid off Health Insurance coverage

Nobody likes to get a call from the HR department to get news of lay off. This is a typical problem in the recessionary times. Unfortunately we are witnessing one of those times during the current year and may be in the next.

If the news of your getting laid off reaches you, then you should first enquire whether your employer is covered under COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act). Under COBRA the norms are prescribed for Laid off Health insurance Coverage.  Under COBRA, the laid off employee and the dependents of the laid off employee are covered by the insurance continued by the company from where the employee was laid off. To come under the ambit of COBRA, a company must have eighteen or more employees. It is better that the employee gets all the information about the scheme. There is an option of extending the period up to eighteen months from the date of getting laid off. The laid off employee can either remain unemployed or join a new company while remaining under the ambit of the group insurance policy created by the company from which she was laid off.