The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, regarding the Senate Finance Committee mark up of the Economic Recovery and Assistance for American Workers Act of 2001:
"Today, Congress is one step closer to providing meaningful relief for recently unemployed Americans. The Senate Finance Committee's bill provides a legislative lifeline that will offer health-care security for millions.
"The health care provisions in this package are critical to the recovery of our economy.
These provisions include subsidies for people eligible for COBRA and expanded Medicaid coverage for those laid-off workers ineligible for COBRA. They are needed to make sure that the 18 million people who will lose their jobs in the coming year will not also lose their health coverage.
"The 75 percent COBRA subsidy ensures that eligible families will be able to afford COBRA. Currently, newly unemployed workers eligible for COBRA must pay an average cost of $7,194 for a family of three and $2,703 for an individual. Not surprisingly, in the year 2000, only one out of five unemployed workers eligible for COBRA continued their health benefits.
"States already struggling with their budgets will need additional funding from the federal government to extend health care to those in need. For the estimated nine million Americans who will be unemployed and ineligible for COBRA, mainly because they were laid-off from small businesses, a state option to expand Medicaid coverage is the best solution to guarantee that these families are not forced to join the ranks of the uninsured.
"Congress must pass an economic stimulus package soon, and it must include health care protections for recently unemployed workers. A package without these protections will put millions of Americans at risk."
