Health Insurance/SSDI question?

Question

I am on short-term disability and may have to go on long-term. Though I do not know if that will be easy.

After long-term runs out, I will be forced to get myself health insurance. A few people have recommended Humana so I will call them. Essentially, what I am trying to find out is: what do people do when they leave a position and need insurance? This will be the first time for me to be in such a scenario.

I am currently going in to be considered for SSDI. If that is approved, will my situation be different? Will my current employer continue to provide me with insurance? Clearly I do not know much about all this.

Please do not try to sell me insurance of ANY kind. Thank you very much.

Answer 1

If you're out on disability, no one is going to give you a private health insurance policy.  If you get approved for SSDI, you become eligible for Medicare 27 months after the effective date of the SSDI, which can be retroactive to the beginning of your disability.

Once your employment is terminated, your employer cannot keep you on the group health policy, unless you elect COBRA - AND PAY FOR IT.  And it gets expensive.

Answer 2

If your employer offers COBRA, although it will cost alot because you will have to pay the full premium that the coverage costs the employer (right now the employer picks up some of the premium), that is probably the only way you will be able to get insurance. However, it will be the same policy coverage that you had while employed.Once the initial 18 months of COBRA coverage runs out, you may be eligible to get an individual conversion policy but the benefits could be less than you had with your COBRA coverage. However, if you have a disability determination from Social Security within 60 days of electing COBRA (stating that you are disabled), you may be eligible for an additional 11 months which would cover you until you are eligible for Medicare.