Ask Kim
Health Insurance After a Divorce
By Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
April 23, 2001
You may not have to find new insurance. If your husband works for a company with 20 or more employees, federal law requires the company to let family members continue coverage under the group plan for up to three years after the employee dies or divorces. (Some states require smaller companies to continue the coverage, too.) You must notify the employer within 60 days of the divorce. You'll have the exact same coverage as you did before you and your husband divorced, but you'll have to pay the entire premium yourself -- which can be a surprise if his employer had subsidized the coverage. The company may also charge you up to 2% extra in administrative expenses.
This federal law (called COBRA, which stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) is the same one that requires employers to continue group coverage for former employees and their dependents for up to 18 months after they leave the jobs.
If you're in good health, though, you may find a lower-priced policy on your own. Check out eHealthInsurance.com, which provides price quotes for individual health insurance with several companies, or visit the National Association of Health Underwriters' Web site for a list of health insurance agents in your area. Your state insurance department may also include a list of companies that sell individual health policies in your state. See our Find Your State Insurance Regulator map for a link to the state sites.
For more information about the individual health insurance market, which varies widely from state to state, see "Buying Your Own Health Insurance."