You didn’t see it coming. You didn’t think that you would be in a predicament of having no job and struggling to find health insurance coverage for your family. Well, you are not alone, but if you have found yourself recently unemployed, then you need to gain a full understanding of COBRA and what it means for you.

COBRA is a continuing health insurance benefit established in 1986 for the purpose of allowing those people who have recently found themselves unemployed by no fault of their own to continue their group health benefits from their employer. Although, a temporary fix to your insurance dilemma this will at least allow you to maintain health insurance coverage for your family until you are able to obtain another job with insurance benefits.

COBRA allows you to maintain insurance at the group discounted rate, however you will be paying both your portion and the employer subsidized portion as well. In light of this however, because you are getting the group rate, you will probably find that this option is more affordable than paying for individual health insurance through a private insurance company.

You are entitled to this COBRA extension of benefits if you:

• Worked for a company that has more than 20 regular employees.
• Carried insurance on the day of the qualifying event.
• Were voluntarily or involuntarily relieved of your duties for any reason other than gross misconduct.
• Have suffered a reduction of employment hours.

In order to continue your benefits once unemployed your employer must notify the insurance company within 30 days. You employer is required to send you information regarding COBRA within 14 days of the qualifying event and you then have 60 days to decide whether or not to take COBRA and 45 days within to make your first premium payment.

COBRA coverage may be carried up to 18 months under normal circumstances and sometimes longer depending on extenuating issues that may occur. There are currently several plans in place by the government to allow COBRA to be carried for longer periods and some ways to get partial payment toward your COBRA payments depending on when your employment was terminated. If your unemployment occurred during the period of time between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 than you are probably eligible for extra benefits in accordance with the COBRA Premium Reduction Act, designed to help those who have suffered a loss of employment due to the current recession. For more information about your eligibility, how to apply and what are included in this act please refer to the following government web page: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-cobra-premiumreductionEE.html . This page will fully document all of the terms and conditions of these additional benefits for you.

It is important to realize the options that are available to you in your time of need. COBRA benefits may not provide you with a complete solution to your insurance needs, but they can provide you and your family with some much needed health insurance benefits through that period of time while you are looking for employment and can even continue to cover you through the wait period on your new insurance policy.

Living without health insurance is not a viable option, so you must try and find the best and most affordable way to keep your family insured during this most difficult time.