Mark, apparently my husband's employer does cover huge amount of his insurance for COBRA to be so high (and for his share to be so low now).

And Gary, as for public school teachers' insurance--it really stinks out in here in VA. There may be some school systems that offer good benefits for teachers, but the two I've worked for in the last few years have both had horrible "benefits" and sad pay compared to the rest of the state. I live in the "country" and the tax base can't match up to that of school districts near Washington, D.C or Virginia Beach, for example.

I have another question about insurance. I've seen on this board where several times some of you suggest folks get life insurance and other forms of protection before a possible cancer diagnosis. I have been worried about one policy my husband and I took out just after we were married and only two months before he had a doc look at a lesion in the back of his mouth that turned out to be T1 SCC.

At the time we took out the policy, the insurance salesman made us fill out tons of forms answering questions about habits (drinking, smoking, exercise), health, etc, then told us the rates for our coverage--mine a pittance for a larger policy since I don't smoke and never have; and a heftier price for a smaller policy for my husband who had smoked a pipe for a number of years. We also had a health worker come to our home a week later to draw blood and take urine samples, then we visited a doctor for a physical exam.

Well, I've been worried about that policy because of all the hoops they made us jump through to get coverage. Since my husband's cancer was diagnosed so soon after getting it (like I said, around 2 months) I worry about whether I will be able to depend on that policy to help pay off our home (that we had JUST BOUGHT at that time). I'm just worried that they will try to wriggle out of honoring the policy even though we really had no idea that Scott would soon learn of cancer. I know it's silly to worry about this now, but my husband and I have been forced to "take care of financial matters" with his terminal prognosis and we're hoping my daughters and I can stay in our home. (I could never pay the payments on my teacher's pay, esp. not with the probable higher cost of health insurance!)

Christine