The Obama administration is considering whether to seek an extension of a
federal law that subsidizes COBRA health insurance premiums for workers who are
involuntarily laid off, a White House spokesman said Monday, October 5.
At a briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama is
looking at whether the COBRA provisions should be extended.
“There are a number of ideas that have been implemented that are coming to a
legislative end,” including COBRA benefits, which the administration now is
analyzing, Gibbs said.
An economic stimulus law that went into effect early this year includes a
provision in which the federal government pays 65 percent of the COBRA premium
for up to nine months for workers who are involuntarily terminated through the
end of this year.
Without an extension, employees who lost their jobs earlier this year soon
will lose the federal COBRA subsidy.
The availability of that subsidy resulted in a doubling of the percentage of
laid-off employees opting for COBRA, found a Hewitt Associates Inc. survey
released in August.
Between March 1, when the subsidy first generally became available, and June
30, an average of 38 percent of those eligible for the subsidy were enrolled in
COBRA, according to a Hewitt analysis of COBRA enrollments among 200 large
employers.
By contrast, between September 1, 2008, and February 2009, an average of 19
percent of involuntarily terminated employees were enrolled in COBRA.
The rise in COBRA enrollment also means higher costs for employers, though it
isn’t known yet by exactly how much.
Because of the high cost of coverage—COBRA
premiums often are about $400 a month for individual coverage and $1,200 a month
for family coverage—those opting for COBRA typically make extensive use of
medical services. As a result, it is not uncommon for employers to pay out $1.50
in claims for every $1 in COBRA premiums they collect.
With the government picking up 65 percent of the COBRA premium tab, the COBRA
risk pool likely has improved, but benefits experts doubt that premiums
collected by employers equal claims.
Filed by Jerry Geisel of
Business
Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce
Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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