Florida law and COBRA health insurance?

Question

Does anyone know if an employer is legally obligated to offer an employee COBRA health insurance upon leaving that place of employment. I was dismissed by my employer due to a conflict in my schedule because I am also a full-time student. They were unable to continue to coordinate my position schedule into a part-time position so I could remain on staff. I had health insurance and also several supplemental policies with Aflac. I asked my employer what will happen with the insurance and they never offered me COBRA and told me that the insurance company & Alfac would contact me. My last day of employment was 01/31/2008. I still have not been contacted by the insurance company. Does the employer hold any legal obligations to offer this to me? Please let me know as soon as possible. Thanks to anyone who can help.

Answer 1

Both answers above seem to be very helpful indeed. I would agree that COBRA is too expensive for the average healthy person. It only makes sense to keep COBRA, in my opinion, if you have pre-existing conditions, and are not able to qualify for an individual policy.

You state you are a college student, so I will guess you are about 22 years old. You can probably get superb coverage for about $125 per month, NOT including maternity benefits, which would cost you another $100 or so per month. COBRA might be 50% to 100% more expensive. Let me know if you want an exact quote.

AFLAC should be transferrable to individual coverage.