COBRA – Healthcare-NOW

Subsidizing COBRA Is Not Enough–We Need Single Payer

By Andrew Coates, MD– COBRA is a law that allows you to keep your employer-sponsored health insurance for 18 months if you lose or change jobs. To do so, you have to pay 102% of the cost (the full premium plus a 2% surcharge). The stimulus package just passed provides for laid off workers, who…

COBRA Too Costly for Many Unemployed, Report Finds

The cost of buying health insurance for unemployed Americans who try to purchase coverage through a former employer consumes 30 percent to 84 percent of standard unemployment benefits, according to a report released yesterday. Because few people can afford that, the authors say, the result is a growing number of people being hit with the…