Hacker News Reader

Comment by SlightlyLeftPad | Hacker News Reader

COBRA can be effective (or is inherently) as of the term date so you have continuous coverage. That said, it’s expensive AF

View on HN

It seems like it’s become a bit more common for companies to pay part or all of the COBRA premiums for a period after a separation, at least that’s been the case in my last two job losses (one company paid the company part of the premium for six months, the other paid the whole premium for three).

You must have worked at great companies. Lately, I’m personally aware of several companies having just fired large numbers “for performance reasons” despite folks having never been told of such “performance issues” and with no severance or health coverage for any amount of time despite over a decade’s worth of tenure and history of excellent performance.

It's expensive in the sense that you now have to pay what your former employer paid (well, 2 or 3 percent more), when often the employer was paying most or all of it for you. After my COBRA ran out a month ago I found that the ACA plans available to me at the same price were a huge downgrade in benefits.

COBRA seems useless af. Often better to just get a personal plan.

How is it useless? It's exactly the same as the plan you were on at your company.

(Source: was on COBRA for the past 18 months, was annoyed that it ran out. Equivalent plans on my ACA exchange cost significantly more.)

COBRA is simply the law that says you pay the full price of your previous employers group rate. Maybe your employer had an excellent group rate and you didn't qualify for subsidies.

I suspect for the average American the math goes the other way.

Source: Tried COBRA many times in the past decade (lots of startups) and it was never worth it. I wish health insurance wasn't tied to employers at all.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com