If you've be out of work in the past 23 years you have heard of COBRA which in a nut shell it allows you to continue your medical benefits you previously had with your former employer.

The downside... You are stuck with the BILL! Depending on your former employer's benefit plan, your monthly COBRA payment could easily be $500!

So, how do you deal with this new kick in the pants? Stand up and take it!

Nice thing is you're unemployed and you've got a 60 day window were no one expects you to have all your life figured out...so, go do some research!

The first thing you should do before you sign up for anything is research other healthcare plans. If you are a spry, healthy, spring chicken-like, young adult; that can equal cheaper health care!

As part of the stimulus package just pasted, the government will assist in covering 65% of your COBRA payments! Now I am not going to go into a crazy rant about the socialization of American infrastructure like a nut-o bum screaming from the street corner that the world is ending. But if you want to check out a little more about this section of the stimulus package look up https://www.conexis.org/pdfs/COBRASubsidyParticipantFAQ.pdf.

While Conexis may not be your COBRA provider it explains things pretty well.

So with all that being said what is a broke unemployed 20 something suppose to do? Let me suggest a few things as a broke unemployed 20 something myself.....wait.

Just grab a beer and beach chair and enjoy yourself. You got 60 days my friends!

This may seem like i am indeed crazy but continue reading.

I myself was let go on December 31st, typically the last nice thing your employer will do for you is cover your health insurance for the remainder of the month. My former employer must not have received that memo, because there aren't too many days left after the 31st of any month! So January 1st came and I had no insurance. Was I worried, no way! Why? Because of that 60 day grace period. So, what should you do? Carpe Diem! Go bungee jumping, fire-walking, heli-skiing, skydiving... whatever floats your boat friend! You can rest easy during that 60 day period knowing that you can still be covered under COBRA if something goes terribly wrong. Although on second thought, if something goes terribly wrong while doing these things you may not need COBRA...hmmm.

Here's an example of something that went terribly wrong:

One of the first things I wanted to do after entering the world of unemployment was to learn how to snowboard. I have always wanted to tear down a mountain carving up the powder and hitting huge jumps. Well, really I wanted to hang out, drink a beer or two, and not spend an entire day on my back side getting snow thrown in my face by the kids from the 5 and under lessons. Anyways, after a few days I thought I had the hang of it...but gravity taught me very abruptly that I did not. On the first run of the day I had made it almost back to the end. Let me tell you, watching a 200 pound guy eat it at the bottom of a run is kinda funny, until it is you.

I flew through the air, feet over the top of my head,and landed squarely on my left shoulder. I would argue I was simply testing the density of my skeletal structure and unfortunately failed miserably. After sliding a few more feet I realized something very very bad happened. 30 mins later I was looking at an x-ray of my smashed collar bone. Even the nurse was shocked how bad it was! Before you panic, keep in mind that this is a worst case scenario situation for the uninsured, a $1000 ER visit, $500 consult with surgeon, and a $15,000 surgery to set the bone.

Thankfully I signed up for COBRA the next day, paid my premium for the month, and had the exact medical coverages I had before losing my job.

It's not cheap, but paying for the COBRA benefits is well worth it when you need it. The greatest part of this plan? If you don't go out and break your self like I did, you have the security of knowing you have health coverage available without paying a dime. Just get your ducks in a row so you know what to do at the end of that free 60 day period. I hope this helps those of you having to make this decision yourself. I am in no way an expert on medical coverage, but I did learn the hard way! Lots of healthcare institutions will give you some great free advice and if you don't know who to ask, break a bone and head over to Good Samaritan...a nice nurse can give you the coaching you need and some sweet pj's!