COBRA Health Coverage in a Bad Economy
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
We aren’t talking about cobra as in snake slithering through the grass here, though that imagery is being splashed across the media as COBRA reveals its true colors in the face of this economic crisis the United States finds itself in. COBRA, or Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, was created back in 1985 to help Americans who lost their jobs to maintain the health care that had been provided through their employer.
According to medheadlines.com, COBRA says the worker can keep coverage for as long as 18 months after employment is terminated but the worker must foot the complete bill. When employed, the worker paid the worker’s share of the health coverage bill and the employer paid the rest. Under COBRA, the now-jobless worker pays both the employer and employee shares of the coverage. But as many of the nation’s unemployed are finding out, the program’s promises are far from being met.
