Deadline looms for extension of federal insurance help
By George C. Ford The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
(MCT) — Workers who lose their jobs after Feb. 28 may find continuing their health insurance coverage is not affordable if a special federal assistance program is allowed to expire.
A subsidy adopted last year as part of the federal stimulus bill pays 65 percent of health coverage premiums for laid-off workers under the Consolidated Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). While COBRA allows workers to retain health insurance from their previous employer, it requires them to pay the full cost of that coverage.
A Families USA report released in December found that COBRA premiums for family coverage consume, on average, 83.4 percent of unemployment benefits. In nine states, the premiums actually exceed monthly unemployment benefits.
The nationwide average monthly COBRA premium for family coverage is $1,111. The average monthly unemployment insurance benefit is $1,333.
Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said extending the deadline for the economic stimulus subsidy will make it possible for millions of Americans to retain health care coverage. “With assistance, unemployed families pay, on average, $389 per month for COBRA premiums,” Pollack wrote in a letter to Congress urging the extension. “Without assistance, they would have to pay $1,111 per month, which is out of reach for most families who have lost their jobs.”
President Obama’s budget and the House jobs bill include provisions to extend the COBRA subsidy to workers laid off this year.
Pollack said signs of an improving employment picture do not eliminate the need for extending the COBRA premium subsidy.
“Although the number of people who are losing jobs is on the decline, in January, 3 million more Americans became unemployed,” wrote Pollack.
“The number of people who remain unemployed for long periods of time is much greater than at any other time in the last 10 years.”
