Thursday
Government's Effort in Health Insurance to Assist Unemployed
Health is very important for everyone. Maintaining good health is essential even during economy downturn. One of the hard efforts taken by the Federal Government to overcome the effects of financial crisis is to help the citizens, either adults or children, with health insurance coverage and quality medical facilities. Here comes the amendment for Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The increasing unemployment rate among the nations has caused the loss of valuable health insurance coverage for many people who were previously covered by the group healthcare plan. In response, the Federal Government has enacted new legislation to help the unemployed with COBRA coverage, where the unemployed is able to continue on their employer's group insurance plan for up to 18 months after losing the job.
For a person to be qualified for this program, he or she must have lost his or her job between 1st September 2008 and 31st December 2009. The annual household income must be less than USD 125,000 for an individual and less than USD 250,000 for a family. Under the reauthorized act, the qualified citizens pay 35% of the premium and the government pays the remaining 65%. This assistance could continue for a maximum duration of nine months.
Besides COBRA, another important measure the Federal Government has taken recently is the reauthorization of State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This customized program enables children and teenagers under the age of 18 as well as pregnant women to be eligible for receiving health insurance and directly obtaining medical assistance. Under the new law, families can earn up to 300% of the poverty level and they are still qualified for SCHIP. This program is a state administered program. As a result, the eligibility criteria and the benefits for this program may vary from state to state.
The two recent government measures mentioned above are basically meant for citizens who are out of job and out of health insurance coverage. The government assistance is given to support both jobless citizens and their families to overcome their health problems during hard times. If you have been retrenched at the moment, get more detailed information about these measures and apply for it!
Jeslyn_Jessy
