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| Losing Your Group Health Insurance |  Most people face with different life problems that require some arrangement, such as divorce. While coping with such changes in your life you may find out that you can no longer get group health insurance through your spouse’s job.
There are lots of health insurance options you can investigate, so that you and your family can still get the health care coverage you need. You have to know that health insurance also protects you from spending all your money to pay for a serious medical problem.
Many people under 65 obtain health insurance through their or their spouse's job. This type of health insurance is called group health insurance. Your employer might offer you several health insurance plans for choice. In most cases, your employer pays most of the premium and you pay the rest. Some work places also offer group health insurance to their employees.
You have to know that group health insurance costs less than individual health insurance and might offer better benefits. Because of these facts, you most likely want to keep your group health insurance for as long as you can. Even if you undergo some changes in your work or family life, there are always methods for you to hold on to your group health insurance plan.
Yearly many adult people under 65 lose their health insurance coverage for different reasons:
- They divorce their spouse.
- Their spouse dies.
- Their work hours are shortened.
- They are fired or quit their job.
- They retire from the job before age 65.
In case you are faced with losing your health insurance, you can take following steps:
- Inquire about whether you can get COBRA benefits. COBRA is the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. It is federal laws that will help you keep your group health insurance longer.
- In case you are changing jobs, get to know about HIPAA. HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. It will help you to protect your right to insurance when you change your group plan to another or when you move from a group plan to an individual plan.
- Clear up if you can reorganize your group health insurance to an individual health insurance policy.
- If you are a member of any professional, fraternal, or social organization find out if they offer a group policy.
- In case you can’t obtain group policy, explore other individual policies.
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