With so many people losing their jobs and their healthcare, I am reminded of my experience when I lost my job and how Kaiser’s different plans helped my family. 

For over 40 years, I’ve always had good health insurance through one employer or another. I didn’t know how great it was to have coverage until I almost lost it. For $10 per incident, I delivered two of my children, my son had two brain surgeries and MRI’s, and my daughter had two foot surgeries. Thank Heaven, if it had to happen, we had excellent coverage, and affordable rates. Because I worked for a large group, the rates were amazingly low. I had the best of both worlds, excellent benefits and low premiums. 

When my employer closed its doors, I didn’t have another job to go to, but at least, I was able to rollover my family to a COBRA plan. We were able to keep the excellent benefits, and surprisingly, the premium was still reasonable. Usually, being on COBRA means goodbye to low premiums. However, because I was coming off of a large group plan, my rates were still lower than if I had enrolled on a private plan. Due to a pre-existing condition, my son would not have qualified for a private plan anyway. My family stayed on COBRA, until I learned about Kaiser’s Steps Program.  

The Steps Program is designed for people who need a financial break, which I definitely needed, after not having worked consistently for a year. Steps was the perfect fit. The benefits were good and the price was amazingly cheap. Since it wasn’t subject to medical underwriting, my son couldn’t be denied.  

Eventually, I found a wonderful job that offered health insurance. I became ineligible for Steps when my employer offered the group plan. I wasn’t sure if I should switch my children onto the group plan. Since the small group rates for dependents were higher than Steps, and since my children would not have qualified to be my dependents (because they were not full-time students), the decision was easy.  

I decided to put my family on three different Kaiser Plans. I’m on a group plan, my son with the pre-existing condition is on the Steps Program, and my healthy daughter is on an Individual Health Insurance Plan. It has been a win-win-win situation. We’ve been able to stay with our personal doctors, and more importantly, we are each on a plan that best fits our budget, and our unique service needs.   

When I first got laid off, I wouldn’t have imagined that I could have gotten a better job and healthcare on top of it. Now, I work for a health insurance broker that sells Kaiser health insurance. That’s

Providence. When I receive calls from people who are losing their jobs and/or healthcare, I’m reminded of my own experience, and am encouraged by the possibilities.