Health Insurance between Residency & Fellowship

[philophile]

My residency ends on June 30 and my fellowship starts on July 15 so I have at least 2 weeks of no health insurance coverage for both myself and my husband (a freelancer with no employer-assisted health coverage). It will actually be more than 2 weeks since I doubt my fellowship health coverage will kick in right away. I have tried emailing my fellowship to apply for my health coverage early but it doesn't sound like it will be possible. I am sure I am not the only person to have gone through this. Anyone has any idea on how I can cover both myself and my husband without having to go through Obamacare since (considering our income) it is basically a very expensive catastrophic insurance coverage? I read about Unemployment insurance and COBRA but I'm not really sure it applies to me. Any educated input is much appreciated (as does financial/non-financial advice regarding navigating in-between-training-programs smartly).

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[fitz0809]

I believe you have an open enrollment period for cobra insurance of at least 30 days. If anything happens during that time period you can apply for cobra to cover it.

This may be state specific- I live in Michigan.

 

[Raryn]

I believe you have an open enrollment period for cobra insurance of at least 30 days. If anything happens during that time period you can apply for cobra to cover it.

This may be state specific- I live in Michigan.

This.

Cobra can be applied for up to 30 days retroactively. So leave yourself bare those 2 weeks, if anything happens you file the paperwork and there's no gap in coverage.

 

[rolen05]

My residency ends on June 30 and my fellowship starts on July 15 so I have at least 2 weeks of no health insurance coverage for both myself and my husband (a freelancer with no employer-assisted health coverage). It will actually be more than 2 weeks since I doubt my fellowship health coverage will kick in right away. I have tried emailing my fellowship to apply for my health coverage early but it doesn't sound like it will be possible. I am sure I am not the only person to have gone through this. Anyone has any idea on how I can cover both myself and my husband without having to go through Obamacare since (considering our income) it is basically a very expensive catastrophic insurance coverage? I read about Unemployment insurance and COBRA but I'm not really sure it applies to me. Any educated input is much appreciated (as does financial/non-financial advice regarding navigating in-between-training-programs smartly).

Shouldn’t fellowship coverage be active on your first day? Why wouldn’t it be ?

This is what I’m banking on when I start fellowship...

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Shouldn’t fellowship coverage be active on your first day? Why wouldn’t it be ?

This is what I’m banking on when I start fellowship...

The OP would be missing coverage from July 1 to July 14.

 

[CDI]

Damn, I completely forgot about this.
I'm going to have this same issue between residency and attending gig.
I have 1.5 months in between.
Will need to look into this further.

 

[rokshana]

My residency ends on June 30 and my fellowship starts on July 15 so I have at least 2 weeks of no health insurance coverage for both myself and my husband (a freelancer with no employer-assisted health coverage). It will actually be more than 2 weeks since I doubt my fellowship health coverage will kick in right away. I have tried emailing my fellowship to apply for my health coverage early but it doesn't sound like it will be possible. I am sure I am not the only person to have gone through this. Anyone has any idea on how I can cover both myself and my husband without having to go through Obamacare since (considering our income) it is basically a very expensive catastrophic insurance coverage? I read about Unemployment insurance and COBRA but I'm not really sure it applies to me. Any educated input is much appreciated (as does financial/non-financial advice regarding navigating in-between-training-programs smartly).

You should be able to do cobra for up to 18 months...you pay 110% of the premium but still should not miserable since it’s group insurance

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Damn, I completely forgot about this.
I'm going to have this same issue between residency and attending gig.
I have 1.5 months in between.
Will need to look into this further.

You can go bare and use cobra coverage if needed.

 

[Raryn]

You can go bare and use cobra coverage if needed.

I double checked the timeline: you can retroactively enroll in COBRA for 60 days, not 30, so he'll be fine going bare and enrolling prn.

That said, if you have a greater than 60 day gap, you're either gambling those last few days or you'd have to bite the bullet and pay your COBRA premiums.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

I double checked the timeline: you can retroactively enroll in COBRA for 60 days, not 30, so he'll be fine going bare and enrolling prn.

That said, if you have a greater than 60 day gap, you're either gambling those last few days or you'd have to bite the bullet and pay your COBRA premiums.

Also, sometimes since your last paycheck will get sent in after you finish, you may get covered through the end of July. Check with your employer to be sure.

 

[WingedOx]

I didn't know about the COBRA retroactivity at the time, but I used a BCBS month to month plan for a couple months while waiting to start. Just catastrophic coverage with a high deductible, but it was cheap at least.

 

[DocVapor]

I had an approximately 1.5 month gap between graduating med school and having residency health insurance take effect. I got on the exchange and got a cheap catastrophic plan to bridge.

Worst mistake of my life. Years later I still get 2-3 calls a week trying to sell me health insurance. Even after being on all the known no-call lists and telling every single one to never call me again.

 

[CDI]

You can go bare and use cobra coverage if needed.

I double checked the timeline: you can retroactively enroll in COBRA for 60 days, not 30, so he'll be fine going bare and enrolling prn.

That said, if you have a greater than 60 day gap, you're either gambling those last few days or you'd have to bite the bullet and pay your COBRA premiums.

Also, sometimes since your last paycheck will get sent in after you finish, you may get covered through the end of July. Check with your employer to be sure.

Solid. Thanks!

 

[CDI]

I double checked the timeline: you can retroactively enroll in COBRA for 60 days, not 30, so he'll be fine going bare and enrolling prn.

That said, if you have a greater than 60 day gap, you're either gambling those last few days or you'd have to bite the bullet and pay your COBRA premiums.

Question...does this include the wife and kid if they were on my plan? Trying to make sure I don't screw this up especially because I have an infant at home.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

COBRA is an extension of your identical health policy from before, at least that's my understanding of it.

 

[gutonc]

Question...does this include the wife and kid if they were on my plan? Trying to make sure I don't screw this up especially because I have an infant at home.

COBRA is an extension of your identical health policy from before, at least that's my understanding of it.

Correct. COBRA is just you paying the entire monthly premium on the policy your prior employer was paying part of before. Same plan, same benefits, same docs, etc.

 

[CDI]

Solid. Thanks all!

 

[RangerBob]

I was in the exact same situation as the OP. My fellowship started a few weeks after completing residency, and health insurance didn't kick in until the first of the month following my start date (ie, Aug 1). I used COBRA. It was expensive and annoying, but needed due to pregnancy/new baby. I just wrote a single check before I left residency since I knew I'd need the coverage for that month.