So, can someone clarify: if a laid off Googler is in hospital bed and they stay there after the deadline, they might go into debt (due to hospital prices)?
1. Google is continuing to pay full health care for 6 months, for all laid off employees, as part of their severance.
2. In addition, in the US, workers at decent-sized companies have the option to get COBRA for up to 18 months. COBRA basically says you can stay on your employer's group health plan, but you have to pay the full premiums out of pocket (usually companies pay most or all of the premium). This can be particularly expensive for a family (e.g. $1500 a month or so).
3. After that, if you haven't gotten another job that offers insurance, you can get an individual plan through Obamacare. Again, the cost of these plans can be expensive depending on your circumstances and level of coverage.
It is extremely, extremely doubtful that someone who was a Google employee, who gets a minimum of 4 months severance plus 6 months of paid insurance coverage, couldn't afford cobra or Obamacare.
A new college hire, who already has other debt obligations (student loans)? I guess that's unlikely since Google doesn't hire people in that group... oh wait...
Someone who just made another large purchase, like a house and had an unexpected medical injury?
These aren't hard scenarios to construct. Google employees making more money than the average person doesn't shield them from large unexpected/costly life events. But also, you're assuming a Software Engineering Salary, and not a different salary that's more likely to be lower (Sales, Marketing, etc.)
realistically the googler will have the option to continue their health coverage (at the FULL price) using what we call COBRA. So no, they won’t go bankrupt unless they are in the hospital for many months. But it would still be stressful because COBRA doesn’t last forever, and they will want to eventually get another job. good employers like google pay for most of the insurance cost each month, and the employee pays a small “premium” that is deducted from each paycheck.
You can stay on the existing healthcare plan you had from your former employer, switch to your spouse's plan, or start a new individual plan. By default, Cobra is automatic and retroactive, so you could continue your hospital stay unchanged and then at the end of the following month pay the monthly premium to stay on the plan.
Technically of course anyone could "go into debt" for any purchase, so in a certain pedantic sense, sure you could go into debt for healthcare costs, but it's not like anyone is suddenly becoming uninsured. You have weeks to figure out which health insurance plan going forward is the best option for you. The severance payments should be enough to cover the gap until new employment begins, even for the most irresponsible people who had no savings despite drawing a Google salary.
1. Google is continuing to pay full health care for 6 months, for all laid off employees, as part of their severance.
2. In addition, in the US, workers at decent-sized companies have the option to get COBRA for up to 18 months. COBRA basically says you can stay on your employer's group health plan, but you have to pay the full premiums out of pocket (usually companies pay most or all of the premium). This can be particularly expensive for a family (e.g. $1500 a month or so).
3. After that, if you haven't gotten another job that offers insurance, you can get an individual plan through Obamacare. Again, the cost of these plans can be expensive depending on your circumstances and level of coverage.