Question:
Does anyone know how long I need to keep up my Cobra plan??

I am having surgery in less than a month.. I have been paying this Cobra premium for 6 months now and ITS EXPENSIVE! I want to take the insurance that my job will have to offer me but I dont know if I should hold on to my Cobra for awhile ? I mean, will be new insurance cover all of my follow up visits etc? Or do I need to keep the cobra for that since my surgery was approved under that? Hope I am making sense ..    — [Anonymous] (posted on January 23, 2002)

January 23, 2002
If you have a new job where you have insurance, COBRA does not apply any more. COBRA is a federal law intended to keep people from having to go without insurance due to losing their jobs. Therefore, if you get another job where you have insurance, then your old employer does not have to keep you in its plan any more. I'm not sure what happens if you try to keep the old insurance under COBRA while you have new insurance.
   — [Anonymous]

January 25, 2002
I had insurance through my husband, with 1.5 months to go he got laid off. I kept Cobra for 1 month until I had surgery and that was it. I did ask my surgeon's office what would happen if I switched insurance before surgery and they said I would have to start the process again. Since the surgery is paid in full by insurance I have had all my follow ups as normal. I then switched my insurance a month after I stopped paying Cobra, since the other insurance paid for my surgery... Good Luck with your surgery date.
   — Mandy M.