COBRA loses federal subsidy, future of the program questioned

The end is nigh for one of the federal government’s most popular and well-used insurance plans. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, more famously known as COBRA, will no longer be subsidized by the government beginning next week. The demise of the subsidy, which has provided insurance coverage to millions of unemployed citizens throughout the nation by lowering the cost of COBRA, has been met with little fanfare. After the subsidy ends, the options for those unable to afford conventional insurance coverage will become slimmer. Despite being designed to help…

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Report finds that 50 million people are uninsured and unable to receive coverage through COBRA

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation working to improve the performance of the nation’s health system, has found that 50 million Americans are without health insurance of any kind. The lack of coverage is linked to the economic recession of 2008, in which many businesses had to make cuts to staffing in order to stay afloat. As unemployment rose, so too did the rate of those without insurance as many no longer had access to employer health benefits. According to the report, most of these people…

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