Someone else's question got me to thinking about the unemployed and COBRA coverage. We all know that if a person is laid off they can draw unemployment benefits (UE), but unless they pay for COBRA they lose their company provided health care benefits. Since UE is generally significantly less than their working salary, affording COBRA by not be possible. So that brings up the question: Do you think COBRA coverage be included in Unemployment Benefits? Why or why not?
Cantankerous2011-08-02T17:20:09Z
Favorite Answer
President Obama's Stimulus package pays for 2/3rds of your cobra expenses. He has worked hard to make sure that unemployed middle-class Americans can care for their families while they look for a new job. Republicans have repeatedly criticized this type of help for americans who found themlelves unemployed through no fault of their own.
As you are typically free to choose the benefits provided by COBRA while you are employed, you are free to choose those benefits (and pay for them) when you are unemployed. Plenty of people who are offered employee benefits, such as health insurance, choose not to take it, and that's as it should be when one is out of work. The taxpayers (who pay the unemployment benefits) shouldn't be required to provide a benefit that a person may not have opted to have when he/she was working. Be grateful that the 18 months of COBRA is at least an option. There was a time, when that option did not exist. You got laid off, your benefits ended on that very day!