With the ranks of the unemployed swelling and many of them still eligible for COBRA, the loss of the subsidies, scheduled for Dec. 1, could significantly add to the uninsured population, putting more strains on hospitals and physician offices.
Normally, the federal government does not subsidize COBRA coverage, which allows laid-off workers to continue with their former employee health insurance benefits for nine months, provided they pay their former employer’s portion of the premium as well as their own.
But under of the stimulus package, the federal government this year began paying 65 percent of an unemployed worker’s COBRA coverage for the entire nine months.
With the subsidy due to expire in a few weeks, Congress is considering legislation that would extend COBRA subsidies by six months at a higher 75 percent rate, but lawmakers are awaiting a calculation of how much the subsidy would cost.
Read the Columbus Dispatch’s report on COBRA.
