Its rough out there!

Moiselle

So I was laid off on 12/2008.  One of the first who were laid off during the financial crisis last fall.  I had been on Cobra since January 2009.  For myself, it was very cheap. $130/month.  Then I had Giselle.  Thanks to the Obama subsidy, I paid the same amount for a few months after she was born.  Now that my 6 months has ended, Cobra now wants $982 for her and I.

What makes this story even suckier, is that I had a non elective CS, making private insurance more likely to deny me bc of my history (i may want another CS).  So the underwriter called ( i am applying for private insurance bc I cannot afford $982/month),  And its scary,

Remember about the baby denied coverage in Co bc he we was overweight?  They asked how old she was and how much she weighed,  I am just crossing my fingers and hope they approve us,  Dh has private insurance, since he left his job too,

 

 

stever

Moiselle:

Cobra now wants $982 for her and I.

 

 

Holy crap!!! That is a ton of cash!

I'm so sorry Mari. On the bright side, I'm sure little G is fine. I think the test case for this was a 5 month old that weighed close to 30 lbs or something. 

Peppernut

That sounds really stressful.  982 is insane.

Thank goodness we live in Canada!

Daisiesinmygarden

UGH!!! COBRA is the worst! I'm sorry - that is so stressful.

I agree - I can't imagine that healthy but still on the charts is a problem.

robynlesley

I feel your pain... luckily we're under my DH's insurance, but even that is expensive. I think we're paying around $900 a month for the 3 of us. If we were to try to get a family plan in NJ with the same benefits (his is through his employer in NYC) it would cost us double.

While pregnant, I was under my own ins. and the switch happened on 8/1.  I was so terrified I'd deliver early (due date was 8/6) but Aaron ended up being late?and induced. I guess he listened all to well when I said wait until August.

I hope you find something less expensive, Mari.

BrideBuddies

I won't get all political about health insurance on here, but $900+ is ridiculous!

When I was "between jobs" a few years ago, I skipped COBRA and got a fairly cheap policy from BCBS.  Of course, I was single, under 40 and no baby back then...   

It's at least worth checking out, tho.

 

Moiselle

I know, a LOT of cash huh??? I can feed a country in Africa for a year with that money.

Anyway, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  You might want to explore this option too since you have a family business.  We have friends who also own their own company and are paying $500/month for husband, wife and 2 kids with Blue Cross.  We need to set up our company as a CORP and it should save us $$$. I'll find out more specifics and let you know what happens.

JenniferTCU

Oh Mari- that totally bites. I am so sorry. I hope you come up with a much more cost effective alternative.

iluvtom

Good luck

peeper72

So broken...that totally blows.

pahokie

Yikes!! A thousand bucks a month is crazy!  I hope the corporate option through BCBS works out better for you.

Sunsh1ne

Oh, that's scary.  I was laid off in January 2009 and now have my own solo law practice, as does dh.  Thankfully, dh is more established than me and we were able to do a business group of one plan through Kaiser that is reasonable (I wasn't pg when I left my firm so having maternity coverage was a big deal - none of the private carriers offered it - actually two offered a maternity rider, but it was crappy).

Have you checked Kaiser?  I know they're in California also and I have one single friend who has an individual plan through them.  They're great and the cost is (relatively) reasonable.  Dh pays $700-ish (pre-tax, though, b/c it's a business expense for him) for us both.  Adding the LO will add another $300/month.  Still a lot, but not $980/month.  Don't know what it would be for California.

Sunsh1ne

I should add that in order to do a BGO plan, dh had to demonstrate to Kaiser that he had a track record of profitability.  In fact, profitability alone probably wouldn't have satisfied them.  Luckily, he had two years worth of strong tax returns to produce, so we had no issues.  But if your dh has a successful business, BGO may be the way to go. 

Do you have a broker?  I used an insurance broker and he was FANTASTIC.  I was so stressed about it and he was able to run all of the quotes for us, both individual and BGO.