The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Insurance
just now paying full price for it” without their employer’s contribution.
That full price can lead to sticker shock, as Long notes that COBRA often falls in the range of $600 to $800 a month. Despite that jump in monthly cost, Long says that “equivalent plans on the marketplace without subsidies could be double that price.”
David Grande, director of policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, agrees with Long that COBRA might be the best choice for some people. For a person to qualify for subsidies, he notes that a person’s household income needs to be below 400% of the poverty level, or $86,880 for a family of three. “If you have the financial resources for COBRA, that’s probably the best option.”
Still, Grande bemoans the lack of federal intervention on health care, especially as pandemicrelated economic damage grows more permanent. He thinks, like Kerr, that navigating the health-care marketplace is too confusing, and that there’s a lot of misunderstanding around who qualifies for subsidies and what the different options are.
“There needs to be a strong national effort to make subsidized coverage advertised, available, and easy to access,” he said. “We’re seeing the limits of the Affordable Care Act through individuals who don’t qualify for subsidies, who probably should be subsidized at a point like this.”
Some of the solutions Grande sees for these problems would be to expand Medicaid in states that haven’t already done so, increasing the number of people who are able to enroll. (Pennsylvania and New Jersey have both expanded Medicaid.)
State-based exchanges, which Pennsylvania is set to begin in 2021, could help cut costs for individuals, as well, but he says that bigger issues surround who qualifies for subsidies. Those regulations can be changed only by the federal government, he noted.
Ellen Grubawsky, another client of Young’s Insurance Services, also had to find new coverage after her furlough became a permanent layoff at a company where she had worked for 30 years. But at age 62, the Perkiomenville resident is more worried about securing a new job before becoming eligible for Medicare at 65.
“I’m uneasy about finding a job when the time comes, but I just have to wait and see what happens,” she said.
Though Grubawsky qualified for subsidies that gave her discounted options, she says, the final added cost of almost $300 a month on her new plan is one more bill that’s increasingly difficult to pay without a steady income. Worse yet, she has concerns that her new insurance has less coverage than her job-based plan. “I’m not even sure the plan I picked is the best one.”
While enrolling in a new plan has made Grubawsky feel more secure about her situation, she still feels uncertain about her finances for the future. She hasn’t ruled out collecting her Social Security early or considering a reverse mortgage (a loan that allows homeowners over 62 to draw out part of their home’s equity as income) if the economy doesn’t improve. Though she’s still able to support herself through her severance package, Grubawsky acknowledged “that money only goes so far.”
“It’s very scary,” she said. “I feel very uneasy about the whole situation.”
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