A new report released today by Families USA-Squeezed, Caught between Unemployment Benefit and Health Care Costs-shows that to maintain employer-based health coverage under COBRA most unemployed people would have to devote an unrealistically high proportion of their incomes to health insurance.  

 New Yorkers who lose their jobs, like most American workers, find it difficult if not impossible to take advantage of COBRA coverage because the price is astronomical: For single New Yorkers, the average monthly COBRA premium ($434) comprises 32.5% of the average monthly Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit ($1,337). The situation is far worse for New York’s working families, where the average premium ($1,143) is 84.8% of the average UI benefit.

HCFANY issued a press release in conjunction with the release of this report  calling for State officials to implement a health care safety-net for newly-uninsured workers by simplifying and expanding New York’s popular and affordable public insurance options