Response #9:Response to:#9 Bill Aims To Subsidize Health Care For Laid-Off

I liked this article very much. I heard about it on the radio a week or two ago and was interested though I was busy at the time that I was hearing, so I didn't get to listen to it much. I am glad I found it.

It is about a plan called COBRA that will help pay for health insurance for people who have lost their jobs. It has been in place since 1986 but still hasn't been used a lot since then because it is very expensive. A family had to go without insurance because the mother lost her job and the husband got sick. The medical bills stacked up very high and are silll very much unpaid off.

What Congress wants to do is to pay 65% of the premiums for COBRA. The family that couldn't afford COBRA when the mother lost her job would have had to pay 800$ a month but with the 65%, they would have only needed to pay 300$, which is very affordable and could have helped them out very much.

I hope this passes.

#9 Bill Aims To Subsidize Health Care For Laid-Off

-This article was from NPR
-COBRA is a bill that allows emplyees to keep their emplyers insurance for up to 18 months
-They have to pay full premiums
-When you are employed, you recieve subsidies for the premiums
-These premiums can be very high for people,
-a family of nine lost their insurance and hoped they wouldn't get sick
-but they did
-and it was bad
-very bad
-COBRA is very expensive but a new bill will hopefully fix that.
- Congress has a bill that if passed, will pay for 65% of the premiums for the first 12 months of unemployment
-The Senate also has a bill very similar but only for 9 months.
- That 65% would bring down 800 dollars to aroud 300 dollars, which is much easier to pay then 800