After you lose, quit, or retire from your job one of the first major decisions that you will need to make is about Alaska COBRA insurance.  Knowing your options and the difference between federal COBRA insurance, state sponsored COBRA insurance, and COBRA insurance alternatives is very important and can save you money as well as make sure you have the health coverage you desire.   Many people do not know that they have options and end up spending more money than they need to.

Option 1:  Federal COBRA Insurance, Monthly Average for family, $1,084

The federal COBRA insurance bill was passed in 1984 and allows people who recently quit, lost, or retired from their jobs to continue to use their employer sponsored health insurance plan for up to 18 months in most cases. This coverage was set up to protect people from suddenly being without health insurance and extended benefits to their family. Most people find they qualify for COBRA if they worked at a company with at least 20 employees on a health insurance plan and they did not lose their job due to gross misconduct like theft or sexual harassment. The major downfall of COBRA is that under the federal COBRA insurance laws, anyone signing up for COBRA insurance must pay for the entire premium plus a 2% administration fee. The employer no longer pays any part of the premium. The average cost of COBRA for a family of four is over $1000 monthly.

Option 2:  State Sponsored Alaska COBRA Insurance, Monthly Average for family, $1,084

The second option in most states for people who do not qualify for federal COBRA insurance is a state sponsored COBRA insurance plan. Many states created their own mini COBRA plans to help residents who worked at companies with between 2-19 employees and therefore didn’t qualify for federal COBRA coverage. Unfortunately there isn’t a mini COBRA plan in Alaska. This means that the only Alaska COBRA insurance available is the federal plan.

Option 3:  COBRA Insurance Alternatives, Monthly Average for family, $400

The final option for people who are considering Alaska COBRA insurance or who do not qualify for COBRA is a private insurance plan, normally known as individual or family plans. These private insurance plans can be much more affordable and offer similar coverage to COBRA insurance for individuals and families who are relatively healthy. In fact, most people save about $600 monthly by signing up for a private health insurance plan.

Likely you are wondering why private insurance is much more affordable than COBRA insurance. The fact is that employer sponsored health insurance plans must cover all people in the office, healthy or not healthy, at risk or not at risk. This drives up the cost for everyone. Since inevitably there will be people on the health insurance plan with major medical needs, the cost increases for everyone. When you sign up for a health insurance plan on your own, you only pay for you and your family. If you are relatively healthy then you can purchase a plan for much less since you aren’t paying for other people’s health needs.

To learn more about other health insurance plans, get a free quote for you or your family and begin exploring the plans available.