Late Tuesday night, President Barack Obama signed the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 4691) into law. The bill, which passed the U.S. Senate by a 78-19 vote Tuesday night and passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week, extends the original federal COBRA subsidy created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) by one month.
The new legislation extends the subsidy to individuals who are involuntarily terminated between March 1, 2010, and March 31, 2010. Since the last COBRA subsidy extension period ended February 28, 2010, this extension applies retroactively (i.e., to March 1 and 2). The legislation also includes a provision that allows certain individuals who initially lost group health coverage because of a reduction in hours and were then terminated after the legislation was enacted to receive the subsidy.
Congress is also considering legislation that would further extend the COBRA subsidy to the end of the year.
Also, you can keep up with the latest legal changes affecting employer benefits and trends in employee benefits with the Benefits Complete Compliance
Dear Mr. President, Please stop spending all my money because I need it. Perhaps if you and Congress addressed the huge public debt, stopped buying up and/or running businesses (Marxism doesn’t work either), and used some common sense rather than passing inane laws that debilitate working folks, then I might be more supportive of the never ending extensions to COBRA and the headaches they cause for those who do benefits.
I hope the cobra subsidy is extended through the end of the year. I have been out of work and still unable to find a job for quite some time now. I also recently found out that I am pregnant. In order to keep my cobra coverage I would need to pay an additional 350 per month that I can not afford. If this is not extended I am not sure what my husband and I are going to do. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is extended.