Health insurance with quiting/moving

[ShahMD]

Hi everyone.

Quiting my job due to toxic work environment. Currently a W2 and have always been a W2. I'm in NY and my last month of work will be in June. Plan to move to Texas in august and begin work as an IC in October.

I've never dealt with health insurance before. I have an HSA now but have no clue what to do since moving between 2 states. Should I risk it and wait until august to start looking for insurance in Texas or is there something else I should do? Is there a plan (preferably HD with HSA) that I can transfer between 2 states while waiting to actually move?

All help much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[blowhard]

You should have access to COBRA through your previous employer, which you should take advantage of for 18 months.  You would be very foolish to go without health insurance.

Once you are settled in Texas, you can contact an insurance broker to see what your options are.

[HandFellow]

Check into the COBRA policy.  When I moved last summer, I had a month gap in health insurance with a family of 5.  I have a large stash of HSA funds, but still was worried.  I checked the COBRA policy.  For mine, which I thought applied to all, COBRA can be activated retroactively. So you don't have to pay anything unless something happens, in which case, have that paperwork on hand and send it in. But i would check the COBRA policy before doing that.

[Hawkeye225]

COBRA will be available for 18 months and you can use HSA contributions to pay for COBRA indefinitely.  You can't use HSA contributions to pay for routine health insurance coverage but you can use it for COBRA.  So you could pay this back to yourself many years from now.  Triple tax free as long as there are no changes to the rules.

[BurnedoutDoc]

Sign up on health exchange NY state blue cross HSA, there is only one HSA option.  Call them and make sure they cover out of state treatment.  You will be eligible to sign up because you quit your job.  Cost you 1600/month for a family plan, a lot less if just you.

Cobra would be much easier, the payments will be pretty high but you are just doing it for a few months.

I agree if you have more than $10,000 to your name don't risk going without insurance.

I think you have too many gap months to do the retro Cobra thing.  Stuff like that is not worth the lost sleep for me.

[Hawkeye225]

COBRA cost me 2% more than standard policy so I kept it simple and stayed with them (especially since I had already paid some money toward deductible) and I could only obtain it within 30 days of leaving original job.  Agree, I wouldn't chance the retro COBRA either.

[eyes4success]

I finished my residency program and signed up for the Cobra I moved out of state and I won't have health insurance with my employer until October. I have a wife and a baby. The costs for Cobra

medical would be $1,160 for family for month

dental $145 for month

However I moved out of state and found out that Cobra will only cover up to 25% of medial coverage, and review "emergency cases" to determine how much they would cover. With this situation would you guys continue with Cobra or see out individual family health insurance. It seems really steep to be paying $1,160 a month for only 25% coverage. My wife and I are in perfectly good health, but will need some well-child checks for the baby. That being said I've never needed individual family health insurance as my schooling/employer always provided it. I wouldn't even really know where to start.

Thoughts?