The Death of COBRA

Pregnant women who have maternity insurance through their employers can't rely on that coverage to be there when they need it. Even if you think you have a great job with excellent insurance benefits that cover prenatal care, delivery and neonatal costs, your insurance could very well be stripped out from under you when you least expect it, as described by this Wall Street Journal article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122852525037084565.html?mod=googlenews_wsj).

The article details how company closings can leave employees uninsured, despite COBRA provisions that normally allow laid off employees to continue to receive health insurance coverage if they pay out-of-pocket. You see, COBRA only applies when an employer continues to offer health insurance benefits to other employees. But when a company terminates medical coverage altogether, laid off employees have no further access to insurance plans.

The problem is only getting worse in today's economy as corporate bankruptcies continue to surge, leaving more and more Americans unemployed and uninsured. Pregnant women who are laid off by these companies are likewise left without insurance -- and they can face difficulties finding an insurance provider that will extend maternity benefits for a "pre-existing condition." And even if they do find a provider that will take them, they are almost always subjected to a standard waiting period of as much as 90 days before benefits kick in -- meaning that if they deliver in that three month window they will be responsible for the bill, not the insurance provider.

All this goes to show that no matter how comfortable you are with your planning, no matter how confident you are that your coverage will be there, and no matter how much you try to do what is right for your family, very serious things can happen that jeopardize your health and the health of your children. The companies mentioned in the WSJ article were not flight-by-night operations -- they were well-respected enterprises that have been staples of their communities for decades.

If the employees of these companies can lose their health insurance benefits, the same can happen to you.

I am PRO MOM!!!
Aaron Bouren
Advocate Aaron