The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, or Cobra, gives workers job of maintaining their health insurance from their previous employer for a maximum of 18 months.
Up to 15 months of the grant was approved last year under the bill the federal government’s economic recovery, the dismissed workers were necessary to recover the total premium. With the subsidy, the unemployed paid 35 percent of the cost.
This grant is now at risk while the Senate of the United States believes that the extension. He was eliminated a jobs bill, but is included in a bill a second job. The Senate, however, has not yet decided which bill he expects to hear, “said Cheryl Fish-Parcham, policy director of Health Care for Families USA.
If the grant is to expire, not dismissed after February 28 will be eligible for reduced premiums.
This could mean many will not be able to pay premiums and join the rolls more and more people uninsured, according to Families USA, a national consumer health care.
The federal grant “gives people a little room for hope,” said Terra Eyl, a specialist in career transition with the Centre of the labor force in Larimer County Fort Collins.
Without the subsidy, the COBRA premiums can cost up to $ 1,000 per month making it unaffordable for most families trying to live on unemployment benefits. Even with the subsidy payments COBRA can be prohibitively expensive for people, especially those with low incomes, “said Eyl. “But a small margin of hope is better than no margin, in my opinion.”
Families USA said an additional 57,500 Colorado became uninsured last year when they lost their jobs. And, although economic recovery appears to be underway, economists agree growth in employment is still far, which means unemployment is likely to increase this year.
A quarter of Larimer County residents between 18 and 65 were uninsured at some point from 2005 until the end of 2007, according to the health district of Northern Larimer County, the latest statistics available.
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