EDITORIAL: COBRA Help Could Come Much Too Late    Bristol Herald Courier, Va.    McClatchy-Tribune Regional News

Mar. 3--Society has a variety of safety nets for people laid off from jobs, but trying to maintain health insurance from their previous employers can be too costly for most unemployed workers to even attempt.

Passed by Congress in 1986, the Consolidated Omnibus Benefits Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, guarantees employees can keep their health insurance with previous employers for up to 18 months, provided the ex-employees pay the premiums. It's a great bridging mechanism for workers moving between jobs because they generally can afford to continue coverage.

But it's a recipe for financial disaster for people who have been laid off because the premiums typically cost hundreds of dollars per month for individuals and more than $1,000 per month for families.

The federal stimulus plan includes $25 billion to help pay 65 percent of the COBRA coverage for laid-off workers. President Obama supported this part of the plan to help those workers maintain their insurance coverage.

But it isn't clear to employers how to make the program work, so thousands of people may have to wait months to get help paying for health insurance previously funded by their employers.

For many laid-off workers, COBRA is too expensive of an option, period. People with working spouses sometimes can join their spouses' health plans, but COBRA is the best option for those with serious medical conditions or difficulty buying private health insurance.

Some workers would agree to the higher premiums if they were optimistic about quickly finding other jobs. Months of job hunting could deplete their savings.

The stimulus money to help offset the COBRA costs is aimed at helping these workers, but it may come much too slowly to rescue them.

While companies keep waiting for more guidance from the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service, these former workers simply will find themselves unable to keep carrying the full COBRA costs.

Those who are able will go to their spouse's health plans. Others will become eligible for Medicaid, our country's safety net for the poor. Many others will join the ranks of the uninsured, until they get sick and go to emergency rooms where their costs are passed to all of us.

The president's COBRA plan needs traction, and soon, or it will become one more societal safety net that is full of gaping holes.
Copyright (c) 2009, Bristol Herald Courier, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Mar. 3--Society has a variety of safety nets for people laid off from jobs, but trying to maintain health insurance from their previous employers can be too costly for most unemployed workers to even attempt.