Michigan sends letters to 500,000 warning COBRA expiration

Michigan's state unemployment insurance agency has sent letters to 500,000 residents warning them that their benefits could expire starting in March if Congress fails to act on extending jobless benefits including a federal subsidy for COBRA health insurance, The Detroit News reports. "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to extend the deadline on the expanded jobless benefits before the end of the month, spokesman Jim Manley said Wednesday. One possibility under discussion is for the Senate to quickly pass a bill next week that extends the expiration date for the unemployment benefits and the federal subsidy for COBRA health insurance, and send that bill to the House for speedy passage" (Aguilar, 2/18).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.