For workers who lose their jobs to avail their employer-provided benefits until they get a new coverage
US lawmakers have revised a far-reaching health care overhaul bill for workers who lose their jobs to avail their employer-provided benefits until they get a new coverage – reported in Associated Press.
The measure, agreed to by voice vote in the House Education and Labor Committee, affects the COBRA program. The latter allows workers to keep their company’s health insurance plan for 18 months after they leave their job, provided they pay the premiums.
Under the provision, workers would still have to keep paying the cost but the insurance would not cut off until they became eligible for a new coverage plan.
The provision (by Susan Davis, Democratic Congresswoman of California) would become law if the full House and Senate consent it to stay in the underlying health overhaul bill and pass that legislation.