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by thephyber
1178 days ago
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The title of the piece is California versus UK, but lots of the complaints seem to be US versus UK. Cobra is federal and was always a hack. We Americans need a complete healthcare rewrite, but there isn’t enough political will to get it done and we couldn’t even agree on what/how to change. Cobra shifts all of the cost to the newly-unemployed employee, whereas previously the employer and employee shared the insurance premium cost and the employer side was tax deductible. It’s only more expensive than while employed because the person can’t deduct it from taxes, while the company could. The parent of your comment mentioned Obamacare plans. Those plans (and Medicaid) require that you change your insurance policy, so depending on availability you may be able to keep your primary healthcare provider. The out-of-pocket costs vary depending on what you qualify for, but the change in employment allows you to move to a higher deductible plan (cheaper if you conserve your healthcare visits). All US safety net programs assume the end user is a liar and/or thief so it is your responsibility to prove your need. The UK (and Germany and Japan) got to redesign their social contract in the rubble of WW2; the US didn’t. And WW2 was the reason we ended up with so much employer-sponsored healthcare —- which means being unemployed comes with losing healthcare. We would have far better job creation if employees were more willing to leave companies quickly rather than searching for the next job first or calculating how much Cobra runway they can afford. |
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