Laid-off get help for insurance - Nashville Business Journal:

haygoodfoafyga1359.blogspot.com
The American Recovery and Reinvestmentr Act extends health care benefitss for workers who lost their jobs involuntarilysincer Sept. 1 through the end of 2009. Undeer the program, qualifying individuals will pay only 35 percenty of their insurance premiums for coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus BudgetReconciliation Act, better knownh as COBRA. The government will pick up the tab for the remaininfg65 percent, but employers have to pay the monet first and then get reimbursed througy their payroll taxes.
Most businessed file those taxes quarterly, raising the possibility of longe r waits to recoupthe “It’s disturbing from a cash flow says accountant Rodney Brower, a principal with Nashville-based , PC, who adds that the new rule have been a prime concern for many of his clients. The averag e COBRA premium is $960 per montyh for a family and $353 for an according to . Until now, employers were requiredd to offer continued coverage under but workers had to payfor it. Premiun payments under COBRA are about four to six timesz higher than the amount workers contribute to their healtn insurance when they are accordingto , a New York-based health care policy organization.
Becaus e of the cost, only 9 percent of laid-off workerz are buying health insuranceunder COBRA. COBRAw is not available to employees who lost their healtg insurance because their employed went out of business or to people who worked for a companuy with fewer than20 employees. The new rules will be a hit for saysSteve Parrett, spokesman for Franklin-based . “Ther legislation will increase our COBRAclaim costs, as well as our administrativ e costs,” he says. Tennessed had 67 mass layoffs in the last thre e monthsof 2008, and 127 in the first two monthxs of this year, according to the U.S. Labor A mass layoff is when at leasgt 50 workers losetheir jobs.
Since September, Tennessee’s unemployment rate has grown from 6.9 percent to 9.1 with more than 85,000 more workerss losing their jobs. Most companies had to offer formef employees COBRA coverage effectiveMarch 1. The companies have until April 18 to notify those who had turned down COBRA of thenew “It’s going to be a struggle to meet all theswe changes in a very short turnaround time,” says Jamez Gelfand, senior manager for health policy at the U.S. Chamber of “There’s always going to be new administrative costxs when you have new notice But now, it’s not just goinv forward; it’s retro to September.
” The new rules largely will create a “stimulus” for benefitss consultants to help companies navigatd the extensive requirements, he says.