The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama last week, allows involuntarily unemployed workers to continue their employer-based coverage by paying 35% of premiums, while the federal government pays a 65% subsidy. Unemployed workers can get this assistance for up to 9 months if they lost their jobs between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. In order to get full federal help for unemployed workers in paying for health insurance premiums, Alaska will have to write a new state law immediately.

Unemployed workers who lost jobs in firms of 20 or more will get this help in all states, because they are eligible for COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) benefits under federal law. However, in order for workers in firms with fewer than 20 workers to get this help, the state must have a “state continuation coverage law” known as a “mini-COBRA law” in place. Alaska is one of only 10 states that doesn’t have that kind of a law.

Model bill language is available from the National Association for Insurance Commissioners.  Minnesota state law is one example of the “mini-COBRA law” Alaska must write to help unemployed workers continue their employer-based coverage.

For more information about the COBRA subsidies in the Recovery Act, use the following link to view a Families USA report: http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/unemployed-uninsured/protecting-unemployed-workers.pdf. Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Some information in this post has been excerpted from a Families USA correspondence.