The republicans in the Senate have delayed themselves into a buzzsaw, as MILLIONS of Americans find out that their health care insurance bills just went up hundreds of dollars a month at the time they can least afford it.
U.S. workers who lose health benefits after a job loss can remain on their employers’ group plan for up to 18 months under the 1986 law known as Cobra. Unemployed workers typically pay the entire cost of the health-care premium, plus a 2 percent administrative fee.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, passed in February, included a $24.7 billion subsidy to reduce health care costs for the growing number of unemployed. Employers are required to pay 65 percent of their former employees’ Cobra premiums and file for a tax credit. The benefit is available for those who involuntarily lost their job under certain circumstances from Sept. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2009. The subsidy phases out for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income above $125,000 for an individual and $250,000 for those filing jointly.
The average cost to remain on an employer’s group plan with Cobra is $1,078 per month based on data from 2008, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation of Menlo Park, California. The federal subsidy reduces the average cost to $377 per month for a family.
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
But
As many as 7 million people could be benefiting from the COBRA subsidy by the end of the year(1), according to Congressional Budget Office Estimates. The first recipients of the nine-month subsidy are scheduled to lose their federally-sponsored 65% premium reduction on December 1, 2009. The increase in premiums from 35% to 100% of the total cost will effectively triple the money they're required to spend out of their pockets each month to maintain their COBRA benefits
Italics added
http://money.cnn.com/...
Those brilliant republicans...by stalling, they've made the issue go away and people are contented to wait another couple decades. Or they've just made sure that the issue comes at the worst holiday season some people have ever had, as they lose their health care insurance or what little they have left. They stalled it just long enough to make the debate occur when it is by far the biggest pocketbook issue seven million families ever had.