Recently a client was telling me that her friend was totally dragging herself to work every day after her chemo therapy. She has stage 4 colon cancer. She works because she needs her health insurance. She is so weak, her husband drives her to work. Mind you the husband is working and makes good money.

Please let me educate anyone out there who has this situation.

 First. There is Cobra or CalCobra. This means that if you quit or are fired you get an extension of your health benefits for 18 months and another 18 months if you are working for a California employer.

Second. If you are laid off (or fired for not showing up because you are sick like this lady) you should be eligible for the Stimulus Act subsidy. This subsidy will pay for 65% of your Cobra premium for 9 months. After that you will need to pay for the entire premium on your own. I am willing to bet that subsidy act will be extended.

Third. When your Cobra runs out you will be eligible for a HIPAA Guaranteed Issue plan from one of the main insurance companies. Personally my favorite is Anthem’s plan. It is a only little more expensive than a standard PPO. The key is to purchase this HIPAA GI plan at the end of your Cobra plan and before 63 days has passed.

Finally: After I updated my client’s education she said “oh.” She did tell me her friend actually liked going to work and it was only for 2 to 3 hours a day.  I think she was doing an emotional stress test on me!

Moral to the Story: Beware the emotional sound bites!

Apology: I am very sad for this woman. If she were my client I would be coaching her on the best access and use of her health insurance. This would be the very least I could do and that wouldn’t be enough.  My comments on this issue are meant to inform.