Expiring insurance subsidy imperils laid-off Americans: Why has Congress failed to act on this?

[Better Believe It]

Expiring insurance subsidy imperils laid-off Americans
By Tony Pugh | McClatchy Newspapers
November 27, 2009

WASHINGTON — Just before Don Hall and his family left town for Thanksgiving, the laid-off manufacturing supervisor from Castalia, Ohio, wrote a $763.81 check to his health insurance company for his December payment.

He'd paid $237 in November, but the big increase wasn't due to rising health costs or a catastrophic illness — and it wasn't an isolated incident.

Hall, 56, is among an estimated 7 million unemployed Americans who get a federal subsidy to help them buy health insurance under legislation known as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

For workers who are laid off or downsized between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009, the COBRA subsidy pays 65 percent of their job-based health insurance premiums for nine months.

That subsidy, however, expires Monday for Hall and untold thousands of others who began receiving it in March, when it first became available as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Unless Congress moves swiftly to extend the benefit, millions of other jobless Americans will experience the same sticker shock when they exhaust their subsidies and must pay full health insurance premiums, instead of just 35 percent.

For many, the cost of coverage will triple, forcing cash-strapped unemployed workers to scramble for cheaper private coverage, go uninsured or suck it up like Hall and pay the higher rates.

Read the full article at:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/79636.html?storylink=omni_popular

[PinkTiger]

1. This is serious.

Because I have a lot of pre-existing conditions and am likely to be hospitalized in the next year, I have to pay my Cobra premiums. But now I understand that they are going up in January, and when my subsidy runs out in February, I'll be paying $550 for myself to have insurance. My husband has medicare and a supplement. He pays about $287 month and it covers everything. When he was in the hospital in July for his latest heart attack, he paid nothing. Not even for the helicopter ride to the hospital.
Even with my insurance, I pay a deductible and a copay, plus 20 percent of what my insurance doesn't cover.

My premium for Cobra under the Obama subsidy is $180.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Mine's 203 under the 65% subsidy; will go to over 650 in January.

That is a jump.

What the fuck are the assholes in DC doing? Not much, I'd say.

[Better Believe It]

3. The Democratic congressional leadership is sitting on Cobra extension bills

Here's the legislative details dug up and posted by another DU'er.

S. 2730:

COBRA Subsidy Extension and Enhancement Act of 2009

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
This committee has 23 members

Sponsor:
Sen. Sherrod Brown

Cosponsors:
Robert Casey
Al Franken
Robert Menéndez
Arlen Specter
Sheldon Whitehouse

Occurred: Introduced Nov 4, 2009
Occurred: Referred to Committee View Committee Assignments
Not Yet Occurred: Reported by Committee ...
Not Yet Occurred: Senate Vote ...
Not Yet Occurred: House Vote ...
Not Yet Occurred: Signed by President ...

This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee.

******************

H.R. 3930:

Extended COBRA Continuation Protection Act of 2009

The bill has been referred to the following committees:
House Education and Labor
House Energy and Commerce
House Ways and Means

Sponsor:

Rep. Joe Sestak (no cosponsors)

Occurred: Introduced Oct 26, 2009
Occurred: Referred to Committee View Committee Assignments
Not Yet Occurred: Reported by Committee ...
Not Yet Occurred: House Vote ...
Not Yet Occurred: Senate Vote ...
Not Yet Occurred: Signed by President ...
This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee.
Last Action:
Oct 26, 2009: Referred to House Ways and Means

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7119136

[gardenista]

4. Our COBRA payment will be enormous without this subsidy

I'm not sure what we're going to do.

[Better Believe It]

5. President Obama should prod Congress on this. Will he or does he want it to die?