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With the job outlook grim, unemployed workers received an unexpected boost this week as President Obama signed legislation authorizing a six-month extension of the COBRA health care subsidy program that was part of the economic stimulus bill passed in February. "That makes me pretty happy," says Don Hall, 56, who lives outside Sandusky, Ohio. A supervisor with an MBA at an automotive parts supplier to Ford Motor Company, Hall was laid off in October 2008. He recently sent a letter of hardship to Wells Fargo to try to save his house from foreclosure. His subsidized COBRA payment has been...
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the federal subsidies pay 65% of the cost of COBRA premiums. Originally, the subsidy was to expire after nine months and unemployed families would have seen their health care premiums spike on average from $389 to $1,111 per month. This tripling of cost could have caused many families to drop their health care coverage just as Congress is on the cusp of passing the most far-reaching health care reform legislation in history. (See the Cheapskate blogger on COBRA...
...late Senator Edward Kennedy's major accomplishments in the health care field, COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986) enables discharged workers to stay on their employer's group health plan for up to 18 months. Unlike the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), COBRA does not require the employer to pay the cost of providing continuing coverage. Instead, it allows employees and their dependents to maintain coverage at their own expense by paying the full price of the premium plus an administration fee. The Joint Committee on Taxation, a non-partisan group focused on government finance, estimates...
...Wolffrum, 58, of Milford, Ohio, worked for a Fortune 500 company before he was laid-off in October 2008. With his COBRA subsidy, he is paying $146 a month, which is about one-third of his unemployment benefits after taxes. He suffered a heart attack two years ago and also has diverticulitis. When he looked for new health care coverage, the plans would not cover his pre-existing conditions, the premiums were "outrageous" and the deductibles were $5,000. With the COBRA subsidy extension, he hopes the economy will pick up and he can find a position that offers health...
...state remains proud of its native son, no matter how many national debates he may spark. Nevertheless, Obama will be coming home to a state struggling with the sour taste of recession. Although a forecast this month by University of Hawaii economists predicted that the new year will bring improvement, unemployment hovers at 7% and, for the all-important tourist trade, visitor arrivals are down 4.2%. Perhaps worse, at least among the parents of 170,000 public schoolchildren, is the national scolding Hawaii received by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan after Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle closed schools on Fridays...