Hi Mommies!!!
I am in great need of your expert insurance knowledge. After my maternity leave is up in end of April 2008- I will no longer be working full-time and have benefits for our family. My husband just signed with a new company (THANK GOODNESS!!!) however his insurance coverage won't begin until July 1st. We are looking at buying 2 months of private insurance for me and my husband and our two children. Coming from a career in healthcare, I am very skeptical about programs that will be a good fit for our family...with that said, we live on a TIGHT budget and really want to find the best deal out there!!! PLEASE HELP WITH ANY GUIDANCE! What works for your family...and if you don't mind...how much should we be expecting to pay? Thank you so much!
J.
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I have had my daughter covered with Unicare since she was 3 months old and she'll be 3 in April. They have lots of different plans to choose from with varying deductibles and very reasonable rates. We haven't had any problems with the coverage, so I recommend them.
I would stick with COBRA if it is only a couple of months. Plus, you don't actually have to pay for it if you don't use it in the first 90 days. What I have always done in that situation is keep the packet they send. (If your DH had insurance with his old job, they have to send a COBRA info packet with rates and what to do in order to elect to use it.) It is pretty expensive, but you don't need to accept or reject for a certain time period. I think it is 90 days, but please double check! That way if you can avoid using medical care in that time, you never had to pay a penny. You can switch right to the new provider at 60 days and just never accept COBRA. If you need to get a well baby check or something in there, it would probably be more cost effective just to pay cash rather than use COBRA insurance anyway. If something serious does happen and you need to use it, you can always fill out the paperwork and pay for the insurance so long as it is still in that time period.
Have you looked into buying the COBRA coverage to bridge the gap? If you only need a couple of months that would provide good continuity (you'd only have to go through 1 insurance switch instead of 2) and you wouldn't have the stress of finding a new provider.
I can't tell you how much to expect to pay but self pay coverage is always pricey. A couple of tips: make sure everyone has their dental and eye exams done right before and then let dental and vision coverage go for those two months. Also, if anyone is taking any prescription medication, see if your doctor will right a 90 day prescription if possible and fill it before and then you can worry less about the drug portion of the insurance as well. If you don't feel comfortable letting these coverages go altogether, you may be able to opt for a "high deductible" option that will carry a lower monthly payment.
Good luck!
J.,
You should give Sara Edwards a call. She is with Mutual of Omaha ###-###-####. Temporary and supplemental insurance is what she specializes in, and she can get you some really incredible rates too! She is beyond nice, and extremely knowledable. She will help you find the perfect fit for your families needs. She has helped so many of my friends with this..I trust her completely!
K.
J., You can get very affordable plans through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. I am an insurance agent on the group side, however, the company I work for has a great individual sales team that would be able to help you out. I'm not sure of the toll free number but you can check out our website and there is a link and it provides the phone number as well. www.digitalinsurance.com
The company is based in Atlanta but their are individuals that are experts in the Texas market. Please let me know if you have any questions as I would love to help.
When my husband switched jobs, we used Unicare during the transistion period. Depending on the coverage you choose, the rate varies. I believe we paid around $300 a month on it. We looked into COBRA, but it was going to cost us around $800 a month, so we decided to go a different route.
