Community Chat

[Madame Lorrraine]

For the last 20+ years, my DH has worked for a VERY lard software company (guess which one, lol!) and today they announced a large round of lay-offs We've talked about this more than once and tried to figure out if he'd accept the golden handshake if it were to be offered to him.

We haven't the numbers exactly but the only reason he'd want to stay on in insurance: He's eligible for Medicare but I won't be for another two years. It easy to think, what could happen in 2 years? Well, in my experience, plenty!

Has anyone else been in this situation? What criteria did you use to decide? Ultimately I think we'd sit down with our financial advisor and compare both scenarios to help us decide what would be best for us.

If anyone has any helpful advice, I'd like to hear from you. Right now I'm nervously sitting by the phone to hear whether or not they want him for another two years (18 months, really) or if we could live on him unemployment benefits for as long as possible or if he should look for something else till he's ready to call it quits for good,

WWYD? (What would you do?) TIA if you have honest but kind things to say!

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""lard software company""

Freudian slip? lol

I don't have advice but wish you and your DH the best of luck.

[game-on]

Madame..... I know you are very anxious.... I encourage you to try and keep busy and think about other things..... often people draw closer during a crisis.... I hope that you weather this storm and there is a rainbow and a pot of gold at the end.

[tansy]

You should be able to get COBRA for at least 18 months. Then you buy private insurance until you hit 65. Edited to add: maybe he can negotiate continued insurance benefits for you as a condition of being laid off?

[kittymomNC]

If insurance for you is the main hangup, I'd go ahead and check into what the ACA offers in your state. Of course, it depends on your income as to whether you might be eligible for a subsidy. But if you're in a state that operates its own exchange you will probably have more choices from more companies. If his income goes down if he leaves and your total income is less, you could be eligible, but even if not, the competition offered in some of the exchanges might help keep the cost of your coverage down.

As tansy said, you would probably be able to keep your coverage through COBRA, but you might still want to compare with what's available through ACA. When my son lost his job due to health issues, he stayed on COBRA for 18 months, and then was able to get a really good policy through the ACA which costs him less and gives him better coverage than what he had under COBRA from his former company (a company in the top 100 U.S. companies to work for)! If we had known that, he would have dropped the COBRA and gotten the ACA policy sooner!

[ahoymate]

Cobra prices are outrageously expensive. Not to worry, you're close to 65 will have Medicare available to you. Also the option of ACA.

Large companies are heartless. Don't expect much. Good luck.

[tansy]

The advantage of COBRA would be that she'd have the exact plan she has now and doctors. It's an option to check out.

[kittymomNC]

On 7/17/2014 tansy said: The advantage of COBRA would be that she'd have the exact plan she has now and doctors. It's an option to check out.

That's true..if they really like the plan they have, they would be able to keep it under COBRA. It's good to check out all available options.

[esmeraldagooch]

I posted about this 6,000 that ended up 18,000 this morning. These are real people hurting as you know. This is horrible since the economy is so horrible and getting worse daily. I hope he finds work again if that is what you want to do. I hope everything works out ((hugs))

Ezzy

[Elstongunn]

On 7/17/2014 Skylands said:

Cobra prices are outrageously expensive. Not to worry, you're close to 65 will have Medicare available to you. Also the option of ACA.

Large companies are heartless. Don't expect much. Good luck.

ITA. COBRA will eat up a lot of your severance. Don't waste it on COBRA; try to get on ACA asap.

Yes, large companies can be heartless. If a mass layoff is in the offing, they won't negotiate with you on the severance unless you are top C-level. You get what everyone else gets.