3 months ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - Millions of unemployed Americans will now face possibly huge increases in healthcare as the federal subsidy for COBRA began expiring as of Monday.
COBRA, an acronym for the 1985 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, is a federal law that allows laid-off employees to stay on their former employer's group health insurance plan, but only for 18 months and only if they can pay the full cost themselves. To help ease the pain for millions of people who lost their jobs, in February the government began offering COBRA subsidies covering 65 percent of the premiums.
"The subsidy has really been a blessing,:" Polly LaPorte told News10. "It covers the same as if you were working."
LaPorte was laid off from her job in June. Her COBRA subsidy will last another four months. But for the first people who qualified, Monday marked the expiration of their COBRA subsidy.
There are proposals in both the House of Representatives and Senate to extend the subsidy for six months, but the legislation has stalled.
"If this subsidy is not extended, I'd have to go for a high deductible plan for the family. I have a son in college and I still need to cover the whole family," said LaPorte. "Compared to what I'm paying now with the subsidy, I would likely have to double what I pay and get probably half the benefits."
COBRA is generally more expensive than the premiums paid by company workers.
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News10/KXTV
