If you have just become unemployed and lost your employer-sponsored group health insurance plan, one way for you to obtain affordable health insurance in Pennsylvania is to purchase a conversion plan.
Conversion coverage is an individual health insurance policy that comes from the same company that provided group health insurance to your employer and his or her employees. If you received employer-sponsored group health insurance for no less than three months, you are eligible for conversion health coverage. When you purchase a conversion health insurance plan in Pennsylvania, you must pay the premiums that your employer may have once paid for you under your employer-sponsored group health insurance plan; however, you can’t be denied due to any medical conditions.
Affordable health insurance in Pennsylvania in the form of conversion insurance covers not only you, but anyone else who was previously covered under your employer-sponsored group health insurance plan. This includes your spouse – even if the two if you are divorced – and your children. As long as the person is your dependent, and previously covered with your health insurance policy, he or she can also be covered under your conversion coverage plan.
You are not eligible for conversion health coverage if you are already receiving, or are eligible to receive, health insurance offering similar coverage from another group health insurance plan, or health care programs such as Medicare. In most cases, you must also use up the Federal COBRA health care coverage if you qualify for it.
Once you become unemployed, you must be notified of your health insurance rights under conversion health insurance plans. Once you are notified, you have 31 days to apply for conversion coverage. If you have not been notified of your health insurance rights under conversion health insurance plans, contact your employer, the health insurance company from which your employer purchased the employer-sponsored group health insurance plan, or the Insurance Department of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.