Nine months ago, unemployed workers received a boost to continue their health care coverage through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which extended COBRA benefits. The move, meant as a temporary way to provide a 65% premium subsidy and ease the cost of health care for the unemployed, has already expired for some.

Workers became eligible for the subsidy on March 1, meaning the nine-month window of assistance has closed for those who took advantage of the program early on, with thousands of others running out of time. Now, Senate Democrats are urging an expansion of COBRA coverage.

Sherrod Brown

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) have introduced the COBRA Subsidy Extension and Enhancement Act (S. 2730), extending the subsidy another six months, to 15 months, and increasing it to 75% of a workers’ premium.

Under current COBRA coverage continuation, only laid-off workers are eligible for the subsidy, but the proposed bill would extend it to workers whose hours are reduced to such a degree that they lose eligibility for employer-sponsored health coverage.

The proposed legislation also would extend the eligibility deadline for workers by another six months, to June 30, 2010.

In a letter sent recently to the Senate leadership, Brown, Casey and Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) all urged the extension. The Senate is embroiled in discussions on health care reform, trying to get a comprehensive bill passed despite Republican objections.

“With millions of Americans no longer receiving employer-subsidized health insurance through work, it is imperative that we do all we can to limit the rise in the newly uninsured – and the subsequent increase in uncompensated care and Medicaid enrollment that would surely follow,” reads the letter.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) said this week he is working with Brown and other colleagues in the Senate to get the bill passed immediately.

“The difficult job market hasn’t changed, and neither has the importance of ensuring that people can afford insurance,” Dodd said in a statement. “Connecticut families can’t afford to see this assistance expire. And as we work to fix our economy, I will fight to extend this provision for folks who really need it.”