Health Insurance—Making A Choice Following Loss of Employment

When you have lost your job, you may have also lost your health insurance. You have options to either

retain your current coverage or to obtain new coverage. The following information may be of

assistance to you as consider what is best for you.

Federal Marketplace

You can purchase health insurance for yourself or for you and your family on the federal marketplace if

be available if you qualify due to your income. To see if you potentially qualify for a subsidy prior to the

purchase of a plan, the Department recommends you visit the Kaiser Family Foundation website.

Please note that this website is for informational purposes only.

To sign up for a plan, you will need to:

 Work with a licensed insurance agent;

 Visit healthcare.gov to directly sign up for a plan with the federal marketplace; or

 Call 1-800-318-2596.

When you look at the price of the plan, you should also factor in the cost of the deductible and

for your premium and your out-of-pocket health care costs. You might also discover that you, or

members of your family, may be eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program

(CHIP). If you purchase coverage through the federal marketplace, your coverage date is based upon

when you pick a plan. Typically, the coverage will start on the rst day of the month after you pay your

premium for the plan you pick.

There are two companies currently offering coverage on the marketplace in 2020 in Nebraska—Bright

Health and Medica.

For more information on a marketplace special enrollment period and if you potentially qualify, please

If you had coverage through your employer, and your employer had more than 20 employees, you

may be eligible for continuation of your health insurance coverage through your employer

plan. The coverage can continue for up to 18 months. Some may choose this option if they have

already had signicant medical expenses, and have met their deductibles or out-of-pocket

expenses under their plan.

Carefully research your options before making a decision. The cost may be more expensive

than a plan on the marketplace. You’ll need to consider that you will pay the full premium costs,

without any contribution by your former employer or the government, plus you will pay an

additional administrative fee. To nd out more about those costs, contact the human resources

enrollment period, or if your costs of the COBRA coverage change. You may be in locked into

your COBRA plan for some time until one of those events occur resulting in signicant cost to

you. More information on that situation can be found here.

Mini-COBRA

The Nebraska Health Insurance Continuation of Coverage Act, or “mini-COBRA,” is a state law

that allows for the continuation of your employer-sponsored health insurance coverage and

applies to employers with 20 or less employees. If you are involuntarily terminated, for reasons

other than misconduct, mini-COBRA allows you to keep your coverage on a monthly basis until

 The date of expiration of the monthly period for which premiums were paid in the event of a

non-payment of premium, or

 The date the terminated employee exercised the privilege provide under the group policy to

convert to an individual or family plan, or

 The date on which the group plan or HMO agreement is terminated or the employer

terminates participation under the group plan or HMO.

If you opt for Mini-COBRA coverage, please keep in mind that you will pay the total cost of the

plan plus an administrative fee of 2%. The cost of the plan can be very expensive. Your former

employer does not contribute to the payment of the plan and there is no subsidy available from