Several lawmakers are in the news introducing legislation to extend the Federal Cobra Subsidy under ARRA. Under the new Senate bill S. 2730, proposed by Senator Brown, D-Ohio and Senator Casey, D-Pennsylvania, the current nine month subsidy would extend by six months to 15 months, and the current 65 percent subsidy would be increased to 75 percent. Also, the bill would extend the cutoff date to be eligible to receive the subsidy to June 30, 2010.
Because of the odd wording of the current law, workers who are involuntarily terminated say on December 15, 2009 but their insurance carrier covers them until the end of the month, December 31, 2009, will not be eligible for the subsidy. The first day of their eligibility for the subsidy would be January 1, 2010 and since the current law ends on December 31, 2009, they would not be entitled to any assistance.
The House also presented a similar bill in October. The House requested an extension of the Federal Cobra Subsidy but asked to keep the subsidy amount at 65 percent.
Hopefully, a bill will pass soon or we will see many laid off workers unable to provide health insurance for their families. Stay tuned...
