Published on October 28, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Rick Schmitt reports for Kaiser Health News on how unemployed workers are faring with their COBRA subsidies. "In the past very few people could afford this option, but the government subsidies have changed that, and now enrollments appear to be growing sharply. Hewitt Associates, a Lincolnshire, Ill., consulting firm, recently estimated that the rate at which workers were opting for coverage under COBRA had doubled compared with pre-subsidy levels.
Although federal officials do not have figures on the number of people participating in the program, millions have been eligible. The law covers anyone laid off between Sept. 1 of last year and Dec. 31 of this year. But with the first discounts having gone into effect March 1, many people are about to see the benefit expire, including many who remain unemployed" (10/28). Read the entire story.