COBRA unaffordable for many

According to the Commonwealth Fund, most workers who lose their jobs cannot afford to continue their healthcare coverage through COBRA, the 1985 law that allows workers to keep their job-based health benefits for up to 18 months if they can pay the entire premium. Just last year, the average annual cost for premiums of individuals using COBRA was just over $4,700; for families, that cost came to $12,680 a year.

While some are calling for federal assistance for those using COBRA, that doesn't completely solve the problem of the unemployed becoming the uninsured. About 38 percent of workers who lose their jobs don't even qualify for COBRA because their work doesn't offer employment-based coverage in the first place, or their work isn't required to offer COBRA as an option, the Commonwealth Fund's analysis finds.

In an attempt to partially remedy the situation, House Democrats want $30 billion of their proposed two-year stimulus plan to go toward subsidizing COBRA for those who have lost their jobs by 65 percent for one year.

For more:
- read this Modern Healthcare article (reg. req.)

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