The Washington Post
July 7, 2002
By Michelle Singletary
My family has health insurance through my job. But what if I were pink-slipped because of some accounting irregularity that caused my company to go bankrupt? What if my company decided that the best way to pump up its stock price was to announce major layoffs?
I’ll tell you what I would do: I’d immediately sign up to continue my coverage through COBRA.
In theory, COBRA is a good law. In practice, most workers can’t afford to pick up the coverage. Only 7 percent of unemployed workers or their families used COBRA in 1999, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
I understand why so many people, faced with the high cost of this coverage, decide not to take advantage of their COBRA rights. If you and your dependents are healthy and money is tight, paying the mortgage or the car loan is your priority.
But life has a way of shifting priorities and problems. Many people who file for bankruptcy protection do so because they can no longer handle the crush of medical bills as a result of a catastrophic illness.
Is it fair that in a country as rich as ours there is anyone who has to worry about being denied health care because of its cost?
Absolutely not. All of us should be concerned, and we should work to change a system in which receiving good health care often comes down to the jobs we hold.
But until things do change, you need to prepare for the worst. In addition to saving at least three months’ living expenses, pump up that bank account to include the possibility that you may have to pay your full health insurance premium.
… if you have a good income, learn to live on less. Stop buying things you don’t need so when a crisis hits — medical or otherwise — you have some financial resources to fall back on, at least for a little while.
Comment: And if you don’t have a good income?
Universal insurance is the only answer.