COBRA Premium Assistance Extension Looked at by White House
Written by Marlo .
During press briefings last week, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated, in answer to questions about employment and job creation, that the White House may be looking at extending COBRA premium assistance past January 1, 2010. Mr. Gibbs stated, “the President — some of the things the President is talking about there — obviously there are a number of ideas that have been implemented that are coming to a legislative end, whether it is…extending certain unemployment benefits, whether we’re looking at the notion of extending some of the COBRA benefits.”
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set up an assistance package to provide recently unemployed workers up to 65% of COBRA premiums to maintain health insurance. While popular with employees, the imposition of the program created an administrative headache and an unforeseen cost to employers seeking to survive by shedding payroll costs. The legislative subsidy will expire on January 1, 2010.
This means employees laid off after January 1, will not receive the 65% premium subsidy. And, with a 9.8% unemployment rate, this translates into many laid off workers unable to maintain health insurance coverage without some assistance. We’ll keep an eye on this and report on any updates.
COBRA Premium Assistance Extension Looked at by White House originally appeared on About.com Business Insurance on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 13:06:14.