Michigan's tough economic times may have just gotten a little bit harder on some of its citizens. The state that has an unemployment rate of 14 percent, is about to have thousands of its unemployed citizens lose a federal subsidy on their health insurance (Det. News, Deb Price).

In February 2009, President Obama helped pass a large stimulus package for the United States called the American Recover and Reinvestment Act. Part of that stimulus package was a subsidy for newly unemployed workers towards their health insurance. The plan nicknamed the COBRA law was to cover 65 percent of health insurance premium costs for up to 15 months for the newly unemployed. While it seemed to work for the most part, the biggest problem is that when the bill was enacted the national average for unemployment was at 8.2 percent, but now when the time is coming that the subsidy is going to expire, the national unemployment average is at 9.7 percent (Det. News, Deb Price). It seems like now, more than ever, is the time to provide relief for the people who are unemployed.

While the plan has already been extended a few times, there was a plan in place to extent COBRA until the end of this year, however, the budget hawks on the right were able to get the proposal dropped from the House and Senate's agenda. Once COBRA expires it could be devastating on the unemployed as far as health insurance goes. Without the subsidy the average Michigan citizen will have to pay 79 percent of their unemployment benefits simply to be able to maintain a normal unsubsidized health insurance plan. That's 79 PERCENT!! You can understand why more than likely most of those people are probably going to risk it, and decide to go without health insurance, so they might be able to other things like put food on their table.

15 percent of the United States' unemployed are insured through the COBRA subsidy. That means once that timer goes off, 15 percent of unemployed people will have their health insurance premiums raised by 65 percent, or maybe even more if they decide to go through another plan. As you can see that is not very feasible for someone who is unemployed, whether they are single, or if they are trying to support an entire family, it's not feasible. If the federal government wants to keep uninsured emergency room trips down, then it needs to find a way to help keep its citizens insured.
Everywhere one looks they can see the toll that the current economic times have taken on this country's economy. More than just about any other place though; Michigan is truly feeling that pain. Nearly 540,000 people in Michigan take advantage of the COBRA subsidy. If Congress can't find a way to extend these subsidies then around 347,000 of those people will lose their coverage as early as October (Det. News, Deb Price). That really is too bad, especially when you factor in that over 34,200 people have already exhausted every single bit of their unemployment benefits in Michigan and now have nowhere left to turn.

Michigan, along with the rest of the United States needs some help. The national budget has been out of control for years; Congress can't take that out on the unemployed. Yes, spending does need to be cut in the national budget, but not from the places that need it more than most, and these people who are just barely staying above water while being unemployed, need that help.

Sources
1) http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2010/june/03/cobra-subsidy-starts-running-out-for-some-as-congress-grapples-with-extension.aspx?referrer=search
2) http://www.detnews.com/article/20100606/BIZ/6060305/1040/LIFESTYLE03/Without-COBRA-subsidy--health-care-would-require-79--of-jobless-benefits
3) http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/health-reform/cobra-lifeline-for-uninsured.pdf
4) http://blog.heritage.org/?p=34816

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