News > United Hospital Fund Publishes the First Comprehensive Guide for New Yorkers on the New COBRA Rules and Subsidies
United Hospital Fund Publishes the First Comprehensive Guide for New Yorkers on the New COBRA Rules and Subsidies
With 25,000 Joining the Unemployment Rolls Each Week, the Guide Aims to Help New Yorkers Retain or Find Health Insurance Coverage
Release Date: March 11, 2009
- Contact: Bob de Luna
- Contact Phone: 212-494-0733
Produced by the United Hospital Fund, a new consumer guide, Hard Times and Health Insurance: Staying Covered When You Lose Your Job, presents practical advice on state and federal protections, and how to exercise them. The guide is believed to be the first comprehensive roadmap for New Yorkers to the new COBRA rules, including the newly enacted federal subsidies.
Reflecting changes laid out in the federal stimulus law enacted last month, the guide includes information on how to take advantage of new federal assistance that can pay 65 percent of a COBRA premium. Coverage options discussed include enrolling in other job-based coverage that may be available, continuing coverage under state and federal COBRA laws, and converting group coverage to a special individual policy. The guide also offers tips on finding coverage in the private market or through public programs, and other types of assistance.
In addition, the guide provides practical tips intended to help all persons, regardless of their employment status, such as:
1. Make sure your employer or health plan administrator has up-to-date records of your family's current mailing address, and take a few moments to find and review the documents related to your employer-sponsored health coverage;
2. Make sure that you put requests in writing and keep copies of all correspondence with your employer or health plan. Save copies of e-mails, and keep a log of any oral communications as well; and
3. Pay careful attention to the many deadlines that apply to all coverage options. Missing a deadline by even one day can mean the loss of coverage or significant out-of-pocket costs for pre-existing conditions.
The guide was prepared to address a large and growing problem -- the over 500,000 New Yorkers who were collecting unemployment insurance benefits as 2009 began, and whose ranks are joined by another 25,000 newly filing for such benefits each week, in the current economy. For many, the termination of employment results in a loss of health insurance coverage.
"Health insurance coverage has long been one of our core issues at United Hospital Fund, as we work to provide accurate information to policymakers and other interested parties to help inform discussions focused on coverage expansion," said Jim Tallon, president of the Fund. "This guide is different in that we are speaking directly to those individuals and families across the state who are scrambling to maintain the health coverage they had through their jobs or find alternative sources of coverage."
The free guide is available on the United Hospital Fund's website.
The guide was written by Peter Newell, co-director of the United Hospital Fund's Health Insurance Project, and Mark Scherzer, Esq., an attorney in private practice and the legislative counsel to New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage. Support for this guide was provided by the New York State Health Foundation, whose mission is to expand health insurance coverage, increase access to high-quality health care services, and improve public and community health.
About the United Hospital Fund: The United Hospital Fund is a health services research and philanthropic organization whose mission is to shape positive change in health care for the people of New York.
###