New Bill Would Extend COBRA Subsidy: Representative Joe Sestak

bloomberg.com:

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Congress should extend a health-care subsidy that helps the unemployed before it ends for some recipients this month, Representative Joe Sestak said.

Sestak, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said he'll send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today urging her to act on his bill, which would extend by six months the amount of time fired workers can receive a 65 percent reduction in their monthly premiums through Cobra.

Read the whole story: bloomberg.com

Comments

[NoMoreBail2]

12:59 PM on 11/14/2009

We, the American people, dug ourselves into this hold for which there is no escape.a

hat tip to: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[willitell]

04:19 PM on 11/13/2009

I always wondered why they call it Cobra. I know it's an acronym but one that is the same as a p0isonous sn@ke. Instilling fear I guess.

[willitell]

04:12 PM on 11/13/2009

I could never afford COBRA anyway. It was way too expensive.

[totaldisbelief]

01:06 PM on 11/15/2009

right!...who could afford it?...mine would have been 650$/month for me alone.

[vm12608]

12:39 PM on 11/13/2009

Cobra...that's a laugh. Affording Cobra after you have lost your job is one of the challenges of being unemployed.

[NoMoreBail2]

09:58 AM on 11/13/2009

No more bailouts for too big to fail. NO more stupid tax cuts and other gimmicks. Need more jobs, affordable education & heath care.

good articles; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[Gates trades]

06:47 PM on 11/12/2009

Tired of boring news and stupid facebook widgets?

better news: http://financeopinions.blogspot.com

[BabaLou7]

07:40 PM on 11/12/2009

Tired of your public relations.

[Tulka2]

05:13 PM on 11/12/2009

Oh my dears. If you lose your job, how long do you think you can afford the incredible price of COBRA insurance? General strike the day after Thanksgiving. Buy nothing.

[bluejoni2525]

12:07 AM on 11/14/2009

That makes no sense at all !! I want people BACK to work. Sorry truth is if we don't spend they don't hire !!!

[Tulka2]

02:22 PM on 11/14/2009

Our purchasing power is the leverage an individual in a "consumer society" has. If we stopped purchasing for one day en masse, that would be a strong message to Wall Street. Or not. Your choice.

[ForObamaInDallas]

03:54 PM on 11/12/2009

*crosses fingers*

Of all the stimulus programs put in place this year, this is the only one that has benefited me. Nothing else. Not the clash for clunkers, not the home buyer's tax credit (I can't afford to buy a house! So I didn't buy), not TARP. Just this one.

[feliznavidad]

12:13 AM on 11/13/2009

Yes. Cobra is outrageously expensive -- but it is 1/3 what we would otherwise pay. We have NEVER benefited from ANY government bill, law, giveaway 0-- but we desperately need a COBRA extension. Thank you Sisak. Expect my vote in Pennsylvania!

[UrbanRevolution]

03:00 PM on 11/12/2009

This is wonderful in theory. I would've only had to come up with $1200.00 per month to keep my insurance through COBRA. Let's see, my unemployment ins. = 40% of what i used to make and they think paying the equivalent of a mortgage payment every month is doable. WTF are they smoking? Thank God for spouses and their insurance. What are gay couples doing...?

[MaryanneAZ]

02:18 PM on 11/12/2009

I just love Joe Sestak. He's a practical and reasonable man. It goes without saying that since jobs are not available, then the Cobra subsidy needs to be extended. If the unemployed could get new jobs, then they would be able to obtain new insurance.

[unbozo]

02:14 PM on 11/12/2009

Oh good! Another totally useless program that most people can't afford! Single Payer Now!

[indy100]

02:35 PM on 11/12/2009

Exactly.

[bluejoni2525]

12:09 AM on 11/14/2009

This program has helped many families over a very rough patch !!!

[jugglergal]

02:12 PM on 11/12/2009

Who can afford Cobra? It is usually twice the amount of private insurance. They've got you though if you have a "pre-existing condition" like your pregnant. It is all fixed against the consumer. Why is Cobra so expensive? Who owns Cobra?

[indy100]

02:38 PM on 11/12/2009

COBRA is a programs that guarantees you can continue insurance coverage with the insurance company you were insured with while you had a job. Nothing pre-existing about it, as it's not NEW coverage and there is not a break in coverage if you pay the premiums, which are the FULL COST of the insurance plan. I'm a government employee and COBRA for a family plan is $886 monthly on the CHEAPEST plan. You're right, nobody can afford it, even with a 65% subsidy.

[bluejoni2525]

01:51 PM on 11/12/2009

This subsidy was a lifesaver for my family !! My husband was unemployed earlier in the year (has since found a job with health care). We would have had a very hard time paying the almost $1200 Cobra payment but with the subsidy we payed less than $500. They really do need to put through this extension for the people who are still unemployed !!!!

[outofhere]

03:27 PM on 11/12/2009

The subsidy has been a lifesaver for us. Without it my husband and I, ages 60 and 59, will pay a whopping $900/mth to maintain our insurance. With a subsidy we pay around $300. That mean we aren't completing destroying our savings and may just be able to hang on until one of us finds a job.

I am all for single payer but in the immediate future I support this idea.

[ForObamaInDallas]

03:48 PM on 11/12/2009

Yep. Same here. I'm crossing my fingers.

[Marcospinelli]

04:52 PM on 11/12/2009

What you need is single payer universal health care, aka Medicare For All.

Every modern industrialized nation in the world provides its citizens with what is a human right -- healthcare. It is a CRIME in 35 of the 38 other industrialized nations of the world to profit from primary healthcare.

What has happened to us, that we accept a corrupt political system where corporations that make obscene profits off by denying us health care can use some of those profits to pay off our elected representatives to keep the STATUS QUO?

Obama, after running on a platform of transparency and bringing all sides to the negotiations, shut out liberals from his administration and barred single payer advocates from the table. Obama conceded the People's already compromised positions. Obama unilaterally removed single payer from consideration keeping intact a failed employer-based for-profit private insurance industry healthcare system. Obama cut secret deals with phRma (that the government wouldn't try to negotiate for lower drug prices & phRma could continue price gouging) while saying it was Congress's job to create a plan.

History is filled with well-spoken crooks with a nice smile.

[MNmommy]

01:48 PM on 11/12/2009

Bless you Joe, we won't be needing it, but it was close.

[blueken]

01:39 PM on 11/12/2009

More half way measures. More compromise. This dog won't hunt. The Democrats will be stuck with a plan that has no chance of working trying to please the Republicans, who will then turn around and say "I told you so." The Democrats are being played. How come the Republicans can be ruthless when it comes to feathering the wealthy peoples nest, and the Democrats seem powerless and divided when it comes to ordinary Americans? Trillions for banks, sorrly no money for the rest.

[bluejoni2525]

01:51 PM on 11/12/2009

What are you talking about ???

[blueken]

02:31 PM on 11/12/2009

Universal single payer health care. Good for business, good for the economy, good for America. The many who are well pay for the few that are sick. The government negotiates drug prices with the buying power of 450 million Americans. Doctors, nurses and hospitals can heal sick people instead of endlessly filling out paper work. That's what I'm talking about. COBRA, as handy as it might be in certian circumstances is just another band aid on a dysfunctional system that is bankrupting America.

[indy100]

02:40 PM on 11/12/2009

Because the Democrats are spinless, and some of them are as corrupt as the Republicans. We need serious Democrats and Progressives who aren't afraid to take a stand.