Tornado Alley (PROG)

[BOREALIS]

Obamacare could save large employers billions in COBRA coverage


Who came up with that acronym, anyway?

Wed Sep 25, 2013 at 11:31 AM PDT
by Joan McCarter

You're probably not going to be hearing Republicans saying anything about this news in the debate over shutting down government to kill Obamacare.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/September/24/obamacare-cobra-businesses-marketplaces-exchanges.aspx

Health-law provisions taking effect next year could save U.S. employers billions of dollars in expenses now paid for workers who continue medical coverage after they leave the company, benefits experts say.

Insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act are expected to all but replace COBRA coverage in which ex-employees and dependents can remain on the company plan if they pay the premiums. [...]

The average COBRA member cost his former employer 54 percent more—$3,800—than the average active worker, continuing a long-term trend, according to a 2009 survey by newsletter Spencer’s Benefits Reports. At one company in five, COBRA participants cost more than twice as much as active workers.

But COBRA members pay premiums based on the lower cost of active employees.[ www.cobramanagement.com/PQB_FAQ.htm#24 ] (Because former employers usually don’t help with premiums, COBRA members pay far more than they did when employed. But they still don’t pay enough, on average, to cover the cost of their care.)

There's a grace period of at least two months with most companies for signing up for COBRA that actually allows former workers to sign up even after an accident or serious illness, increasing the likelihood of that former employee costing the employer way more money because they are still on the hook for some of their former employees' care.

So Obamacare means that laid-off workers will have a much more affordable option to buy insurance on the exchanges, [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/17/1239570/-Laid-off-workers-will-have-alternative-to-expensive-COBRA-nbsp-coverage ] and that means their former employers could have big savings as well. There's a massive win for business that you'd think pro-business Republicans would be happy about.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/25/1241324/-Obamacare-could-save-large-employers-billions-in-COBRA-nbsp-coverage