Private Insurance: COBRA and TAARA

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COBRA & TAARA Coverage has information about how COBRA continuation coverage works, including details about the 65 percent subsidy included in the economic stimulus act, and about the TAARA tax credit to help workers displaced by trade.

From Families USA

Getting Covered: Finding Health Insurance When You Lose Your Job is designed to help consumers who've lost their health coverage sort through possible options for new coverage, including COBRA, Medicaid, CHIP, other federal and state programs, and the individual market. (Updated February 2012)

COBRA Assistance: A Lifeline for America’s Unemployed briefly explains the urgency of extending the COBRA subsidy until the end of the year. Enacted as part of the economic stimulus legislation, this subsidy pays 65 percent of the cost of COBRA continuation coverage for unemployed families and individuals. The report was accompanied by two stories of Americans who have depended on the COBRA subsidy. (May 2010)

Expiration of COBRA Subsidy: Millions of Unemployed Workers and Their Dependents Are at Risk; Many Will Lose Their Subsidy as of December 1, 2009 provides state-specific data on what will happen to family COBRA premiums when the subsidy ends, and it argues for extending the COBRA assistance. (December 2009)

States Act to Help People Laid Off from Small Firms: More Needs to Be Done discusses how, in response to pressure from advocates, some states are taking steps toward passing "mini-COBRA" laws to help laid off workers from small firms get the federal subsidy guaranteed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). (April 2009)
 
Getting Covered: Finding Health Insurance When You Lose Your Job is designed to help consumers who've lost their health coverage sort through possible options for new coverage, including COBRA, Medicaid, CHIP, other federal and state programs, and the individual market. (February 2009)

Protecting Unemployed Workers' Health Coverage: What States Can Do discusses how states can help unemployed workers keep or obtain health coverage during these turbulent economic times. (January 2009)

Squeezed! Caught between Unemployment Benefits and Health Care Costs examines COBRA coverage and unemployment benefits and finds that, to maintain their employer-based coverage under COBRA, most unemployed workers would have to devote an unrealistically high proportion of their unemployment check to health insurance. (January 2009)

The Trade Act Health Insurance Subsidy: An Update from the States This Issue Brief analyzes the implementation of the new subsidy offered by the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002 (TAARA) and suggests changes that might strengthen the existing program. (December 2003)

A Shelter in the Storm: How a Subsidy Could Help Unemployed Workers Get Health Insurance The rise in unemployment over the past three years has contributed to a substantial increase in the the number of uninsured Americans. This Issue Brief discusses the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002 (TAARA) health insurance subsidy as one possible model for providing financial assistance to unemployed workers for the purchase of health coverage. (October 2003)

The Health Insurance Tax Credit in the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002 This Issue Brief defines the TAARA tax credit and discusses who is eligible for it. It also provides answers to many other questions about how the tax credit will be administered, what kinds of insurance quality insurance will be provided, and the role states have in implementing the credit. Includes advocate suggestions for shaping the credit. (April 2003)

More than 725,000 Laid-off Workers Have Lost Health Coverage Since the Recession Began in March,
A Special Report. (December 2001)

From Other Organizations

When Unemployed Means Uninsured: The Toll of Job Loss on Health Coverage, and How the Affordable Care Act Will Help discusses the difficulty people face finding and paying for insurance if they lose their jobs. Although the Affordable Care Act will provide affordable insurance in 2014, this report suggests that policy makers should help the recently unemployed now by offering COBRA subsidies or extending unemployment benefits. (Commonwealth Fund, August 2011)

COBRA Subsidies for Laid-Off Workers: An Initial Report Card indicates that enrollment in COBRA coverage has increased substantially, and reports show that most eligible people have heard about the subsidy. Unfortunately, many eligible people still can't afford COBRA coverage. In order to further increase enrollment, Congress should consider raising subsidies and further simplifying enrollment procedures. (Commonwealth Fund and the California HealthCare Foundation, December 2009)

The Extension of the COBRA Subsidy: An Update reviews the COBRA subsidy and key changes made since its extension in December 2009. The brief looks at the options available for people who may have dropped coverage in anticipation of the end of the subsidy or who paid the full premium after their nine months of receiving the subsidy expired. (Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, December 2009)

Retired Steelworkers and Their Health Benefits: Results from a 2004 Survey looks at how the bankruptcies of two steel companies, the LTV Corporation and Bethlehem Steel, affected health coverage for the companies' retirees and dependents. The survey found that although nearly three-quarters of the retirees who responded had obtained replacement coverage or a supplement to their Medicare coverage, many reported that they were less satisfied with their new coverage than they had been with the benefits they lost. Many also had to delay retirement in order to secure replacement coverage. The survey also studied the effects of the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) enacted in 2002, finding that it played a major role in helping some steel workers renew coverage. (Kaiser Family Foundation, May 2006)

Four in five businesses that now provide retiree health benefits will accept government subsidies for continuing to provide retiree drug coverage that is at least as good as Medicare's coverage when the new drug benefit starts in 2006, according to Prospects for Retiree Health Benefits as Medicare Drug Coverage Begins: Findings from the Kaiser/Hewitt 2005 Survey on Retiree Health Benefits. The survey examined 300 of the nation's largest private-sector employers that provide retiree health benefits. (Kaiser Family Foundation, December 2005)

Early Implementation of the Health Coverage Tax Credit in Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina: A Case Study Health Coverage Tax Credits (HCTCs), which pay 65 percent of beneficiaries' health insurance premiums, constitute an ambitious experiment in using the federal income tax system to subsidize health coverage for the uninsured. To gather more evidence about HCTCs' effectiveness and assess their prospects as a model for broader reforms, researchers visited Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina. The authors present key findings and propose reforms to improve HCTC's ability to help its current target population and aid policy makers in designing future health insurance credits. (The Commonwealth Fund, April 2005)

Retiree Health Benefits Now and in the Future provides detailed information on retiree health programs offered by large, private-sector employers, including data on eligibility, benefits, premiums, and total costs in 2003. The report also offers insights as to what changes employers say they are likely to make in the near future. (Kaiser Family Foundation, January 2004)

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