Are people claiming unemployment in Florida running out of their COBRA benefits?
From wsj.com: DECEMBER 1, 2009, 12:14 P.M. ET Health Insurance Subsidies Expiring For US Unemployed -Report Millions of jobless Americans face a huge increase in health insurance costs, due to the expiration Monday of a government subsidy that had been provided through the Obama administration’s stimulus package, the Los Angeles Times reports. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, enacted in February, launched a temporary, $25 billion program to let the unemployed stay on their former employers’ health plans for up to nine months after a layoff, but the money is running out and Congress is unlikely to extend it soon. If the Cobra subsidy–an acronym for the 1985 law that authorized the insurance–isn’t extended, hundreds of thousands will lose the subsidy each month, forcing them to pay health insurance premiums that are three times higher than what they’re now paying. President Barack Obama wants to extend the subsidies, an administrat
While the Senate grinds to a halt debating the pros and cons of a health care bill, a new study says that a federal government subsidy’s end could force millions of unemployed workers to pay more than 80 percent of their monthly unemployment checks to keep their job-based health insurance coverage intact. Sources: http://cbs4.com/local/cobra.health.care.2.1343358.
