moving states, trying to understand insurance coverage and plan accordingly
hi, all. writing from burner account due to the detail this has. TIA 🩷
Context:
I (25F) currently live in New Hampshire and have Anthem NH insurance through my employer. I am moving to New York state in a few weeks. My insurance coverage is ending on my last day of employment, 8/10. I do not have another job lined up; I have been trying desperately but the market really sucks atm. The "about" section of this sub says to add income, so my current job, and the ones I'm applying to, are in the $45k-50k range.
Originally, I was planning on just sucking it up and pay for COBRA for the rest of August for a few reasons: 1) its such a hassle to switch insurances and I would rather only have to do it once, from my current plan (with COBRA) to a new employer plan, rather than current employer plan -> marketplace plan -> new employer plan 2) I had marketplace insurance in NH for Dec '23 and Jan '24, so I know one of my prescriptions is likely not to be covered to a level I can afford with a marketplace plan (with this plan it was $400/mo, it's not on GoodRx and there is not an assistance program through the manufacturer so I just didn't take it for those two months and it sucked ass) 3) connectedly, my other prescriptions are cheap on my current insurance, and were more expensive (even when covered) by marketplace insurance. My plan is to get on employer sponsored insurance ASAP, but as I have nothing lined up, I don't know exactly when it will be.
I have come to learn that my current insurance only will only cover ER and urgent care out of state; I cannot see regular providers out of state. I am unsure if I can fill prescriptions with this insurance out of state; I have transferred my prescriptions to a pharmacy local to my new city in NY, and I've tested to make sure these prescriptions could be filled, however both times they were charged through GoodRx, not my insurance. I have called the member services number on the back of my current card twice today to try to figure out what coverage might look like out of NH, and both people I spoke to were incredibly unhelpful.
I know that New York has its own marketplace, and it looks like the plans are pretty costly (compared to what I paid for the NH marketplace plans I had). And of course, there's no guarantee that they'll cover my prescriptions. I have tried looking for formularies online for the plans the NY marketplace offers, but I'm struggling to find them.
So. My question is basically, what should I do? My options, to my understanding, are
1) Shovel out the $500-600 for NY marketplace insurance and potentially go without one of my medications, while paying double-triple the amount I currently pay for my other prescriptions? If I took this route, what would be the best method to check which prescriptions are covered and how much money they would each cost?
2) Pay for COBRA, which is a little less than $500/mo, so I have emergency coverage. I would wait to see any providers until I get employer-sponsored insurance (again, I'm trying my best but don't know when this would be). If I did this option, what would be the best way to check my prescription coverage out of state? Should I call member services again and hope the third representative is the charm? Should I have someone fill them in NH and risk shipping them to me? One is a controlled medication, so that's probably illegal….
3) another option that I am not aware of right now
submitted by /u/AlarmingLibrarian595
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