Health Insurance I will be in the hospital recovering from surgery at the time my COBRA insurance expires. My surgery will be covered, but what happens with the last couple days of hospitalization beyond the end of my COBRA coverage? Written by Penny Gusner Penny Gusner Penny is an expert on insurance procedures, rates, policies and claims. She has extensive knowledge of all major insurance lines -- auto, homeowners, life and health insurance. She has been answering consumers’ questions as an analyst for more than 15 years and has been featured in numerous major media outlets, including the Washington Post and Kiplinger’s. | Posted on: July 22, 2014 Why you can trust Insure.com Quality Verified At Insure.com, we are committed to providing the timely, accurate and expert information consumers need to make smart insurance decisions. All our content is written and reviewed by industry professionals and insurance experts. Our team carefully vets our rate data to ensure we only provide reliable and up-to-date insurance pricing. We follow the highest editorial standards. Our content is based solely on objective research and data gathering. We maintain strict editorial independence to ensure unbiased coverage of the insurance industry. Talk about bad timing. Your COBRA insurance will not cover any procedures or hospital charges that accrue after the expiration of your coverage with COBRA, even if your hospital stay started when your coverage was still in effect. The best suggestion is to get your surgery date moved up. If you explain the reasoning to your doctor, hopefully he or she will be able to accommodate you so that COBRA is effect for your whole hospital period. If it’s impossible to get your surgery date moved, then it may be complicated, but it’s possible you could get new coverage that starts as your COBRA coverage ends. The expiration of your COBRA coverage opens up a special enrollment period with the health insurance marketplace. Depending upon your income, you may be eligible for premium tax credits and lower out-of-pocket costs with a health insurance plan purchased this way. The federal government’s Healthcare.gov website notes that if you are replacing your COBRA coverage, it’s important to not let your COBRA coverage end before your new individual health plan begins. Thus, if your surgery date cannot be moved, start shopping now for a marketplace health insurance policy that will start as COBRA expires so that there will not be a gap in coverage. Having two different health insurance policies during your hospital stay could make billing confusing, but it is ultimately the hospital’s problem to figure out and bill the correct insurance company for its portion of your stay. Penny GusnerContributor . .Penny is an expert on insurance procedures, rates, policies and claims. She has extensive knowledge of all major insurance lines -- auto, homeowners, life and health insurance. She has been answering consumers’ questions as an analyst for more than 15 years and has been featured in numerous major media outlets, including the Washington Post and Kiplinger’s. Related Articles Can I drop my spouse from my health insurance at any time? By Nupur Gambhir Can you get health insurance if you retire at 62? By Shivani Gite How COBRA works if you move out of state By Barry Eitel Can my parents kick me off their health insurance By Shivani Gite How to add a spouse to your health insurance plan By Huma Naeem Does my deductible start over if I change jobs? By Shivani Gite ZIP Code Please enter valid ZIP See rates