FORT WAYNE, Indiana (AFP) — For many among the growing ranks of unemployed workers in the United States, the scariest part of losing their job is losing their health insurance.
Even before the current economic crisis, 45 million Americans were uninsured. That number is expected to rise to 54 million by 2019 if changes aren’t made to the system, according to the director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
One of the swelling Read the rest of this entry »

· If your spouse has a separate plan, act quickly to get on it.
· Ask about your COBRA rights. With some exceptions, laid-off workers can continue their coverage for 18 months by paying its full cost. (Congress is considering a temporary, 65 percent premium subsidy.)
· If COBRA coverage isn’t an affordable option, explore non-group plans. Make sure that any coverage meets the requirements to protect you against preexisting condition exclusions Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress approved on
Wednesday a bill expanding a health insurance program for
children and raising tobacco taxes to pay for it, giving
President Barack Obama a big legislative victory a day after
his pick to lead a healthcare industry overhaul stepped aside.
The House of Representatives voted 290-135 for the $32.8
billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance
Program, or SCHIP, which was approved Read the rest of this entry »

Starting Wednesday, millions of American children can have the health care they need, thanks a the bill signed into law by President Barack Obama. This fulfills one of the promises he made on the campaign trail.
It’s called the S-CHIP program, designed to provide health insurance to low-income families. Even better news: The bill continues coverage for seven million children already receiving care under the legislation and adds coverage for an additional Read the rest of this entry »

LAS VEGAS—Health officials and advocates say a federal bill to increase funding for children’s health insurance would have little effect in Nevada under the budget proposed by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons.
The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would spend $32 billion over the next four years on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
But advocates note that Gibbons’ proposed budget does not include matching funds needed Read the rest of this entry »

The version of the economic stimulus bill that’s come out of the congressional conference committee has wins and losses for advocates of universal health care.
House Democrats in particular had tried to use the stimulus bill as a step toward universal coverage, pushing for expansions of laid-off workers’ access to Cobra coverage and Medicaid. Republicans had complained about some proposals, saying the Dems were using the stimulus bill Read the rest of this entry »

Michigan, longtime home of some of the best health benefits in the nation, has fallen below the national average of companies offering health insurance, a new report to be released today finds.
The number of people without insurance also grew, particularly among those ages 35 to 64 and those without a college education, the report found. Black and Hispanic people are disproportionally affected, the report said.
The number of uninsured people increased Read the rest of this entry »

The White House said no and pressed on with its doomed effort to get a bigger bill. The Republicans won control of Congress in the fall. It wasn’t until 1997, thanks to the unlikely duo of Sens. Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch, that a children’s health care program was finally passed.
One of the clearest signals President-elect Barack Obama has sent is his determination to learn from the Clinton years, and particularly from the former president’s failures Read the rest of this entry »

MINNEAPOLIS – For many people, losing their job means losing their health insurance. They often find the cost of COBRA too expensive, so they take a gamble and go without — but it’s not the only option.
As part of the economic stimulus package that could reach the President as early as this week, Congress may devote tens of billions of dollars to subsidize health care insurance under COBRA.
When Cathy Benson Cook was laid off, she was offered Read the rest of this entry »

Americans who have lost their job since September 2008 and are paying to extend your company-sponsored health insurance under a law called COBRA,
confirm what you already know: The payments are killing you. In 41 states, according to a recent
, average COBRA payments amounted to more than three-quarters of those states’ average unemployment benefits.
But according to the fine print of the stimulus bill being hammered out between the U.S. Senate Read the rest of this entry »