In under two weeks, on December 1, a federal subsidy that helps unemployed Rhode Islanders keep their health insurance will expire. I believe it’s incredibly important, at this time of high unemployment in Rhode Island, for these residents to maintain their insurance, and yesterday I sent a letter to our federal Congressional delegation asking for their help in seeking an extension for these COBRA benefits. From the letter:
I write to encourage action on the expiring benefit for the continuation of benefit coverage for the unemployed. Enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal subsidy for COBRA coverage has helped thousands of Rhode Islanders maintain their health coverage during these very difficult economic times. As November draws to a close, hundreds of Rhode Islanders face the reality of losing their coverage as the nine months of subsidy is ending. For these out-of-work Rhode Islanders, extension of the COBRA subsidy will mean the difference between having health coverage, and access to "right time, right place" preventive health care, and losing coverage, thus driving up emergency department and other costly "wrong place, wrong time" care.
Maintaining health coverage after a job loss is incredibly difficult. The costs of health coverage are an extraordinary expense when you have a steady income — and essentially unaffordable for most while relying on unemployment payments. However, without coverage, a family faces the real possibility of financial ruin with a single illness. Even worse are stories of families forgoing treatment because of a lack of coverage and succumbing to a treatable disease.
Here in Rhode Island, where we face one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, the nine months of subsidy provided by the ARRA is simply not enough. On behalf of those Rhode Islanders that my office helped this spring to take advantage of the subsidy, I would urge action to extend this subsidy. Recent legislation introduced by Senators Brown and Casey would extend the subsidy for 6 months, which would be a good "healthy" start for Rhode Island.
I want to thank you for your hard work on behalf of Rhode Island, especially in your tireless pursuit of health insurance reform. I hope that your action on extending the COBRA subsidy can come quickly.