Noteboom The Law Firm

COBRA Can Cover Gaps Until You Get Medicare

If you qualify for Social Security disability payments, you likely have a few health issues requiring prescription medications and doctor visits. This means maintaining health insurance is crucial for you, but even if you are eligible for disability benefits, you will not start receiving Medicare until you have received disability checks for two years.  

Clearly, this is a long time to go without health insurance. This hardship may make many people hesitant to quit their job, even though it has become nearly impossible to keep working.

Even if you can afford to get your own insurance until your Medicare benefits kick in, it is very difficult to get new insurance when you have preexisting conditions. This is the reason that COBRA exists, which is short for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

Under COBRA, you can keep your current health coverage for up to 18 months. This means that you do not have to go to a new insurance company, and do not have to switch doctors, either. Using this method can save you some time and trouble, and also ensure that you are covered for your current conditions.

Something to keep in mind is that you can count on paying more for COBRA than you did for your regular health insurance through your job. This is because, in most cases, you will have to pay your monthly premium as well as the part your employer paid. While this means you will pay more out-of-pocket, it is still much cheaper than going without insurance at all while you wait for Medicare to kick in.

If you are in fact classified as disabled, you can get COBRA for an additional 11 months, for a total of 29 months. By the end of that time period, if not slightly before, you should start receiving Medicare. While it might be unfortunate that you will have to pay higher premiums for COBRA for about two years, once that period passes, you will likely be glad you decided to get the disability benefits you are entitled to.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida disability lawyers, LaVan & Neidenberg, represent over 5000 disability claimants. Our disability attorneys have experience with cross examining agency-appointed medical and vocational experts and take time when speaking with you about your disability claim. Call us today at 1-888-234-5758 for a FREE legal consultation. There is NO OBLIGATION to hire our firm and there are NO FEES unless one of our trained disability lawyers wins your case.