COBRA Subsidy Ending for Lawyers & Others

2009 marks the worst year for lawyer headcount in 30 years. At the top 250 firms alone, the number of downsized attorneys rose by nearly 5,300 … even more if you calculate all the stealth firings and downsizing at smaller firms. But you already know the bad news. What isn’t generally known, is that a special COBRA health care subsidy – one that pays 65% of one’s health insurance premiums for nine months – is beginning to expire this month for anyone downsized after March 1st. Unless Congress acts by the end of the year to extend the subsidy, jobless lawyers and thousands of others, must pay full premiums instead of just 35%. If you are among those who has been laid off, don’t drop COBRA … even if you have to pay full premiums for awhile. Phil Lebherz, executive director of the Foundation for Health Coverage Education, says “Dropping COBRA is the worst thing you can do. Once you miss a payment for a month, you’re dropped from the plan and can’t rejoin it.”