Good News/Bad News for 8,000 Lawyers

First, the good news: Cobra health coverage just got easier for some of the more than 8,000 lawyers – and millions of other Americans – laid off since last September. As part of the economic-stimulus package Congress signed into law last week, the Fed will provide a nine-month subsidy covering 65 percent of the Cobra premium for people who qualify. The bad news, of course, is that for those more than 7,000 lawyers fired since last September – and the lawyers who haven’t yet received a pink slip – the current legal job market is the worst in decades.

Now for the details: The new Cobra subsidy applies to employees involuntarily terminated between Sept. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009, and applies individuals with a maximum adjusted gross income of $125,000, and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.

According to the New York Times, fewer than one in 10 eligible workers applied for Cobra insurance coverage in 2007. The reason for the low rate is that workers must pay the entire premium – plus a two percent administrative fee. The average cost of Cobra coverage for a family is $13,000 a year. The new law should make it easier for people to protect themselves from ruinous medical bills, but also from the inability to get new insurance due to a pre-existing medical condition.

For more information about your health insurance options, go to www.coverageforall.org, and www.nahu.org, two nonprofit, industry-sponsored sites that lay out many private and public insurance programs. In addition, you can compare individual health plans at sites like www.ehealthinsurance.com, an online insurance broker licensed in 50 states.