If you work for a church, your options are different.
Church plans are generally exempt from COBRA. That one fact changes what happens when someone leaves a church staff, and most people find it out at the worst possible moment.
I worked in churches from 2010 on, and I was a full-time pastor in Virginia for five years. I have been the one writing the budget, so I know what the health insurance line does to it. I'm an independent health insurance agent now, and this is the corner of the business I understand best.
What the COBRA exemption means for you
When someone leaves a job at most employers, COBRA lets them keep the plan for a while at their own expense. Church plans generally do not have to offer it. If your coverage is ending, the realistic route is a Special Enrollment Period on the individual market, and that window is usually 60 days from the day coverage ends.
It is a short clock, and nobody sends a reminder.
The part most pastors have never been told
Clergy housing allowance is excluded from modified adjusted gross income. MAGI is the number the marketplace uses to decide what you qualify for. A pastor whose gross salary looks too high can land well inside subsidy range once housing is taken out of it.
Whether that applies to you depends on your own numbers. It takes about ten minutes on the phone to find out.
If you are on a denominational plan
Some denominations require participation in their own plan, and the rules differ by denomination. Do not drop that coverage on my say-so. Bring me the plan documents and we will read them together before anything changes. Some situations have allowable exceptions and plenty do not.
If you are 65 or older, or already on Medicare, that is a separate conversation with its own rules, and I will not advise you off group coverage.
Who this usually helps
Bivocational pastors already covered through another employer
Church staff other than the senior pastor
Anyone leaving a church staff position
Small churches working out what they can actually afford
Childcare and mother's day out staff
What this costs you
Nothing. I'm paid by the carrier when someone enrolls, at rates set by the plan. The price is the same whether you use an agent or not.
Or pick a time and I'll call you
Independent agent · Licensed in TN, VA, AR, IN, KY, NC and AL · NPN 16627547