By Robin Reed, Online Outreach Manager, National Women’s Law Center

Last night, I went to a goodbye party for a friend who’s changing jobs. Amidst the nostalgic recollections and toasts to her future, we got to talking about some of the logistical problems that come with a change like this. Chiefly, health insurance.

Even though my friend is going straight from one job to the next, due to the various schedules of her old and new workplaces, her previous health insurance will cut off a month before her new insurance kicks in. She has asthma, so trying to buy a month’s worth of health insurance on the individual market isn’t an option. Of course, having asthma is part of the reason she needs health insurance in the first place, but try explaining that to the individual insurance market overlords. (And then try not to take it personally when they laugh in your face.)

So she told us she’s using a month of COBRA coverage, which extends your employer-provided health insurance after you leave a job. Then she told us it was costing her $500.

My jaw dropped.

Now, I suspect everyone else but me already knew this, but here’s what I learned last night. I’m still blown away:

COBRA is a “benefit” in the sense that it helps logistically – you don’t have to go looking for health insurance, and you can keep the same quality of coverage you already have. But it’s not a financial benefit. You have to pay, out of pocket, the same amount your employer was previously paying for your health insurance. They can even charge you up to 2 percent on top of that in administrative costs. And in my friend’s case, a single month of COBRA coverage will cost her more than $500. And if she’d been using her insurance to cover family members, the amount she was paying could’ve gone up to nearly $1,500 a month.

Fortunately, my friend only has to pay a single month of fees, since she’s going straight from one job to another. But what about people who have to go longer between jobs? In this economy, it can take months, even years, to find a job. So your options for that time are often going to be:

(A) paying $500 or more a month for COBRA, on top of housing and food and utilities and all your other expenses (and that’s assuming you don’t have dependents) — without an income;

(B) trying your luck on the individual insurance market, complete with its tendency to charge women different premiums than men, deny maternity coverage, and otherwise fail to meet the needs of women (and it’s not cheap, either); or

(C) forgoing health insurance altogether, and crossing your fingers that you don’t get hit by a bus.

In other words, you’re put in an impossible situation.

So yes, let’s keep the nation’s health care system exactly as it is. Obviously there’s no need to reform any of that. We should simply be expected to pay $500 penalties for changing jobs. Or to buy individual health insurance from companies who can charge us whatever they want for whatever reason they want, or neglect to cover us at all.

Or we could write to our Senators and ask them to enact health care reform that works for women.

Tough call…

Cross-posted from NWLC’s blog