COBRA or individual policy

[KateKat]

I always have heard that individual health insurance policies are wose to have than group health insurance policies. Does anyone know why that is?

I'm at a point where I need to choose whether I should enroll in COBRA for $470.34 a month or find an individual plan. None of the individual plans I looked at are great, but there is one that is just o.k. for $365.41 a month. Which should I choose?

I make about $300 too much a month to qualify for the low income affordable health insurance offered by the state.

[milletpuff]

From what I've seen, group plans can and usually do cover more for a lower price, because they can save money on the administrative costs by issuing a single plan to a group of people. One benefit that I can see is that most individual policies have an underwriting process and will usually exclude pre-existing conditions. If you do have a pre-existing condition, a private policy can refuse to insure you; that wouldn't happen with the COBRA.

As far as COBRA vs. individual plan, it totally depends on each plan and what your needs are. The COBRA is just a continuation of the group policy that you were on before.

Someone here recommended ehealthinsurance.com a while ago, where you can get quotes for a bunch of plans in your area, which I found really helpful!

[alegna]

COBRA.

Individual plans can exclude you for any reason and pretty much drop you at any time.

-Angela

[CameronsMama]

When we had to make that choice we went with the COBRA plan without hesitation. If we had wanted an individual plan with the same coverage it would have cost twice as much. Inidividual plans, like other pp's have said, tend to cover much less and there is no protection. With cobra you have the same protection as any employee on that group plan, so you can't be dropped for being diagnosed with something new, where an individual plan can drop you almost any time they want and for any reason they want.

If you are really trying to save the money by going with the individual plan, get the details before you decide. A plan that looks comparable at first glance may cover only half what you expect it to. And (again, because of the lack of protection) claims tend to get rejected more on individual plans. (I used to do billing, so I've seen some of this first hand)

[2GR8KIDS]

In our case getting an individual plan was much much cheaper than COBRA (in large part because we chose a higher deductible plan). It was difficult to get the policy because of the application process. COBRA runs out after awhile (which is the main reason we got an individual plan). I do fear that the individual plan could be cancelled. But that is balanced by not being dependent on our employers for insurance.

[kewb]

RIght now we are enrolled in Cobra. We decided on Cobra so that we could really take the time to research what plan would be best for our family when Cobra runs out rather than being rushed into a decision.