No one will know until final reports are in, but our best guess at the moment is that about 36 million people have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. For many of these newly unemployed, the transition not only means the loss of a paycheck, but it also means losing workplace health insurance benefits.

What happens to your insurance plan when you lose your job? It’s not generally well known, but you can keep your old plan for up to a year and a half under a program called COBRA. This requires the former employee paying the insurance company 102% of the full monthly premium (the extra 2 percentage points are for administrative overhead), so taking COBRA is not a cheap option. However, staying on COBRA means not losing deductible accumulation in your plan, not having to worry about what doctors and hospitals are covered, etc.