News / Current Events
Spring 2010 - Health Care Issues
Health care isn't just a concern for politicians anymore. One of the pivotal issues in discussing separation is who carries the health insurance and how are you going to be covered when you are no longer a dependent?
Individuals who have been covered under their spouse's policy may be shocked to
find out how much an individual policy will cost and how high a deductible that
policy comes with.
Many self employed individuals, married to spouses who are employees now need to provide health insurance, but must consider laws prohibiting discriminating against employees. An employer may find that if he wants to provide health insurance for himself and pay 100% of the premium that he has to provide this same benefit to all employees.
Anybody considering a separation/divorce would be wise to start pricing health insurance for him or herself. The cost of the policy needs to be accounted for in formulating maintenance and is also helpful in assessing the totalvalue of a compensation package from an employer.
In some cases, health insurance policies allow an individual to stay on the other spouse's health insurance, as a dependent, if a decree of legal separation rather than decree of dissolution of marriage (divorce) enters. This will sometimes provide additional time for a spouse reentering the labor force to qualify for health insurance coverage on his/her own.
COBRA coverage allows individuals who have been subject to a change in circumstance either as a result of termination of employment, death, or divorce to stay on their employer's health insurance plan, but the employee then pays 100% of the premium. This is often prohibitively expensive.
Many companies have web sites that allow you to request information electronically.
Many self employed individuals, married to spouses who are employees now need to provide health insurance, but must consider laws prohibiting discriminating against employees. An employer may find that if he wants to provide health insurance for himself and pay 100% of the premium that he has to provide this same benefit to all employees.
Anybody considering a separation/divorce would be wise to start pricing health insurance for him or herself. The cost of the policy needs to be accounted for in formulating maintenance and is also helpful in assessing the totalvalue of a compensation package from an employer.
In some cases, health insurance policies allow an individual to stay on the other spouse's health insurance, as a dependent, if a decree of legal separation rather than decree of dissolution of marriage (divorce) enters. This will sometimes provide additional time for a spouse reentering the labor force to qualify for health insurance coverage on his/her own.
COBRA coverage allows individuals who have been subject to a change in circumstance either as a result of termination of employment, death, or divorce to stay on their employer's health insurance plan, but the employee then pays 100% of the premium. This is often prohibitively expensive.
Many companies have web sites that allow you to request information electronically.
A health insurance broker is also a good place to start since the intricacies of the health insurance industry are far from intuitive and a live person to answer your questions is typically more reassuring.
