COBRA subsidy offers a lifeline for the unemployed

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown has introduced a bill to extend federal subsidies to help those who have lost their jobs and health insurance pay their COBRA subsidies.

Associated Press file photo by Lawrence Jackson U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown has introduced a bill to extend federal subsidies to help those who have lost their jobs and health insurance pay their COBRA subsidies.

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By Mary McCarty 2:21 PM Saturday, December 5, 2009

Last week Carole Williams’ COBRA payment nearly tripled, to $417 a month — nearly a third of her monthly unemployment payments.

Before then the 63-year-old Union woman paid only $147 a month, thanks to subsidy in the federal stimulus package. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) created a nine-month fund that helped laid-off workers buy coverage at 35 percent of the full cost. But that subsidy expired last week for Williams and countless others who started getting it in March, leaving them in health care limbo while Congress deliberates about whether to extend the subsidy.

Health care experts typically would advise workers like Williams not to drop their COBRA coverage, but they’re not the ones forced to choose between their health care premiums and their heating bills.

She’s hanging her hopes on Senate Bill 2730, which would extend the duration of the subsidies and increase the percentage of the premiums. “If they don’t pass this, I’ll get a lower-cost catastrophic insurance, with a big deductible,” she said.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, who introduced the bill along with Sen. Robert P. Casey, D-Pa., explained it this way: “Part of our role in an economy like this is to help people make it through until things get better. Every day we wait makes it harder.”

When he introduced the bill, Brown said, “Unemployed workers should be able to focus on finding work, instead of worry about how to afford medical care for their families....No family should be one medical visit away from financial disaster.”

Brown described himself as “very optimistic” after discussing the bill with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week and raising the issue in the Democratic Caucus. “We hope to get it renewed by the end of year,” Brown said. “There’s a strong sentiment for it, because we know how well it worked.”

Williams lost her job in October 2008, when R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company laid off its small sales force in Dayton. Her severance package covered her COBRA payments for several months, and the federal subsidy kicked in in March. She takes medication for a thyroid condition and for high blood pressure, and said she couldn’t afford to play Russian roulette with her health insurance: “My younger co-workers are simply going without health insurance. Many of us in our late 50s or early 60s are afraid to do that because of pre-existing conditions.”

Brown praised the involvement of Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who co-sponsored the bill. “He’s very smart, and very serious,” Brown said of the former Saturday Night Live regular.

It is, after all, no laughing matter.

“We should not have a health care system where people are this anxious about their insurance,” Brown said.

Just ask Carole Williams. “I don’t know how long I can wait for them to pass this,” she said. “I just hope I can stay healthy until then.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mmccarty@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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do you have hand to mouth disease or is it a thyroid problem what is it that makes you so huge and wrong

save some for the homeless

stop eating so much
8:17 AM, 12/13/2009

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god i hate your articles you left wing psycho you give us Dems a bad name

M & M is a fat baicth
8:15 AM, 12/13/2009

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Just found out today that after working for the same company for 20 yrs that I am being 'out sourced' beginning Feb 2010. My medical COBRA is $956 not including dental & vision. Living in Tax Free NH, unemployment is next to nothing. I for one will be utilizing every possible benefit I can get. I have paid taxes for 25 years & never required any assistance of any kind and I never thot that I ever would. My how quickly things can change.

Jen
5:40 PM, 12/8/2009

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I completely agree with Bob. Also, for those of you who have not seen Michael Moore's movie "Sicko," I encourage you to watch it. It's very revealing, while also being entertaining (except for the very sad stories of people who fell through the cracks of our broken healthcare system). I listened to a recent interview that Bill Moyer conducted with Wendell Potter, a former CIGNA executive. He said Moore's movie is right on target.

Rex
5:42 PM, 12/6/2009

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This is why every working man and woman SHOULD support national health care.Employers have failed to make a stand and speak on your behalf to government.I don't think employers should be saddled with health care costs either BUT it is THEIR moral responsibility to find a solution---most ARGUE against national health care AND whine about underwriting the costs also---HEY BOSS,grow a backbone and get involved.This isn't a "I want my cake and eat it too" situation.

bob
5:30 PM, 12/6/2009

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