朋友有健康问题，需要持续治疗。马上面临失业，是不是失业后一定可以用COBRA，还是跟雇主有关？ 据了解enroll COBRA和失去工作之间有一段时间，那么这段时间是不是就没有保险呢？ 谢谢各位i同学的热心回复。 朋友因为医疗费用很高，今年已经meet out of pocket limit，就是说继续保留在目前的保险除了保费就不用自己再掏钱了，这个是考虑起码今年留在这个保险的原因。 想确定一下这个理解正确吗？是完全继续之前的保险只是自己支付保费（这样之前的deductible, out of pocket都算上）还是说重新买跟之前一样的保险（deductible, out of pocket从头算）？
Yes. You will receive a letter from your plan administrator that tells you when the last day is to enroll. They typically give you a month or two (in my case I was given close to 5 months because of plan administrator change). One thing you could do is to wait until the last week to enroll (don't wait until the last day and really set up a reminder so you don't miss the deadline). While you wait, you shop around for other plans (like obama care） and if you got sick then you enroll in COBRA so you are covered retroactively and if you did not get sick and found a better plan then you don't have to pay the two month waiting to enroll for cobra and you start your new plan. Keep in mind most plans only let you start first day of a month so be very careful with your timing so you don't have a gap (in case you really get sick).
据了解enroll COBRA和失去工作之间有一段时间，那么这段时间是不是就没有保险呢？
谢谢各位i同学的热心回复。 朋友因为医疗费用很高，今年已经meet out of pocket limit，就是说继续保留在目前的保险除了保费就不用自己再掏钱了，这个是考虑起码今年留在这个保险的原因。 想确定一下这个理解正确吗？是完全继续之前的保险只是自己支付保费（这样之前的deductible, out of pocket都算上）还是说重新买跟之前一样的保险（deductible, out of pocket从头算）？
查了一下，２０个，上一年５０％的时间以上，full-time part-time都算。
Cobra 也是要自己出钱的吧，我记得不便宜
Obama care可以买，就是不能享受discount
但是即使没有discount, 哪个合算也不一定。 corba也许保得更好,更全面，但是更贵。 如果家人没有大病，或者不需要那么全面的保险，也许obama care更合算。
COBRA is retroactive to the day you lost your job.
是这样吗，那太好了。
只要在规定时间内加入，可以追溯到失去雇主保险当天。 好处是coverage跟原来雇主提供的group-policy完全一样，不用另外找医生。坏的一面是，要自己负担全部保费（就是原来雇主出的部分也要自己出），很多公司是负担保费的80%左右，毛估估就是要自己出相当于工作的时候的5倍，可能还要外加管理费，非常可能比自己去市场买贵。这个具体的可以去查公司的保险的，我们是明文公布公司出多少自己出多少的。 另外，大部分我知道的公司，裁员之后，还额外给几个月的保险，首先大公司裁员要公告，为了安全，公告之后就不让被裁的上班，但是公告期他们还在payroll上，就还有保险，好一点的公司，公告期之后还有一个月甚至几个月的保险，这些package上会明说保险提供到什么时候的。
Yes. You will receive a letter from your plan administrator that tells you when the last day is to enroll. They typically give you a month or two (in my case I was given close to 5 months because of plan administrator change). One thing you could do is to wait until the last week to enroll (don't wait until the last day and really set up a reminder so you don't miss the deadline). While you wait, you shop around for other plans (like obama care） and if you got sick then you enroll in COBRA so you are covered retroactively and if you did not get sick and found a better plan then you don't have to pay the two month waiting to enroll for cobra and you start your new plan. Keep in mind most plans only let you start first day of a month so be very careful with your timing so you don't have a gap (in case you really get sick).