Smarter Utility

 

TMCNet: Job losses spur health care woes

[January 10, 2009]

Job losses spur health care woes

(New Haven Register (New Haven, CT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 10--When workers are laid off, there typically is a lot of emphasis on the disappearance of the jobs themselves.

But the consumer advocacy group Families USA, based in Washington, D.C., on Friday released a report highlighting another devastating effect of unemployment: the loss of health insurance for workers and their dependents.

The document, "Squeezed: Caught between Unemployment Benefits and Health Care Costs," showed that more than 2.7 million people have joined the ranks of the uninsured since the recession began in December 2007.

Some workers who lost employer-sponsored insurance can retain the same coverage by purchasing it themselves, but they would have to foot 100 percent of the premium costs plus a 2 percent administrative fee.

The continuation health care plans are commonly known by COBRA -- the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 -- the acronym for the federal legislation authorizing the coverage.

According to the Families USA report, most unemployed people cannot afford the monthly costs for COBRA family plans because they usurp most of what the workers receive in the form of unemployment insurance income.

COBRA premiums for individuals are cheaper.

In Connecticut, the average monthly unemployment insurance benefit is $1,383 per person, while the average monthly COBRA premium is $1,166 for a family plan and $415 for an individual.

Nationally, the average monthly unemployment benefit is $1,278, while the average monthly COBRA premium for families is $1,069.

"The outstanding majority of those eligible (for COBRA) can't afford to participate," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "COBRA health coverage is great in theory, but lousy in reality."


Pollack said the unemployed need subsidies to protect them from dropping into the ranks of the nation's 47.5 million uninsured citizens and the tens of millions more who are under-insured. Additionally, they are at risk of a medical emergency that could wipe them out financially.

Pollack said the stimulus package under negotiation between the 111th Congress and the incoming Barack Obama administration is expected to contain mechanisms for either a subsidy to help cover COBRA costs or temporary access to Medicaid benefits for those who would not qualify for COBRA.

"That will be a temporary fix," Pollack cautioned. "The underlying problems remain. We believe that the president and Congressional leaders will make health care reform the next priority of Congress after the recovery package."

Reform must address three things, Pollack said: the ever-growing costs of health care, extending coverage to the uninsured and the under-insured and quality of care.

To see more of New Haven Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.nhregister.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, New Haven Register, Conn.
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.

[ Back To Homepage ]