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About health insurance for freelanceers--I was fired a year ago and made the
leap to freelance tech writing, and so far have survived almost a year now!
Anyway, during the shock of the exit interview I inquired about COBRA
benefits. Whoa, what a nightmare. The HR person didn't know what it was and
told me to call the insurance company. The insurance company told me to call
the COBRA office. The COBRA office told me to wait for a letter in the mail
from the company that fired me. I waited, and nothing.
Well, by the time I made another round of phone calls and forced the
incompetent HR manager to look up the information, the option to enlist had
expired. I looked up my legal options, because his oversight could have
potentially done me harm, but I had none. The company had no legal
obligation to provide me the correct COBRA information, stating that it was
my responsibility to enroll, not theirs.
I found a much cheaper policy anyway through Blue Cross/Blue Shield of
Florida (because I have no pre-existing conditions and am a non-smoking male
(and thus not able to get pregnant)). I pay around $56/month, versus what
would have been over $130 with COBRA group coverage.
Oh, I have more horror stories about that firing incident, but I'll save
them for some other thread.
Cheers,
Matt Danda
Freelance Technical Author
"Protect Yourself Online" (ISBN 0-7356-1188-2); Microsoft Press; March 2001.
Gainesville, FL
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A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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