Primary insurance cover you if job is lost?

[espanovich01]

What is the name of your state? Ohio
Does a primary insurance company have to cover you if you lose your Job? My mother works and her insurance is primary. My father is awaiting a liver transplant and is on medicare which is the secondary insurance. My mothers bank just got bought out and she may lose her job during the reorganization of the 2 companies. She is concerned that she will not be able to afford to pay extra for her insurance and if my Father gets his transplant they absolutely cannot afford to pay for any of that. What can they do?

[AL HR]

With most employer sponsored health care, you lose coverage when the job ends, or at the end of the month- depends on the wording of the plan. However, she may be eligible for COBRA if she is terminated for anything besides gross misconduct. COBRA is the same coverage, but she would have to pay both the employer and employee portion of coverage + up to 2% in administrative fees.

If she just drops the insurance because she can't pay for it, then she and he are no longer covered. It's just like car insurance- if you don't pay for it and get in a wreck that is your fault, you have to pay for damages out of pocket.

Because of the severity of his illness, she really needs to sit down with someone in HR/Benefits and discuss options.

[ecmst12]

If your parents lose their insurance through mom's work, then Medicare will become primary on Dad since it would be his only coverage. So they will pay their portion. Of course there will probably still be significant charges left after they pay their portion, so they should definitely look into getting him a Medicare supplement policy - this will probably cost a lot less then paying to keep the both of them on Cobra coverage, if mom loses her job. They can get the supplement now or wait to see if she loses her job, but it might be better to get it now if it's not too expensive so that he will not have any periods of partial coverage.