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COBRA and ARRA
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed in 2009 and temporarily provided a health insurance premium reduction for those on COBRA health insurance. COBRA and ARRA were meant to benefit those individuals who qualified under COBRA and ARRA so that they could experience up to a 65% discount on their COBRA costs, meaning that many more families and individuals could keep their health insurance with COBRA and ARRA.
Under the COBRA and ARRA acts, individuals who normally qualified for COBRA health insurance would automatically qualify for the COBRA insurance subsidy as long as they did not make more than $145,000. Under the COBRA and ARRA subsidy, families were only responsible for paying 35% of their COBRA health insurance premium for a period of 15-18 months. If you qualified under COBRA and ARRA before May 2010, your coverage will extend until the full length of the term even if it extends beyond May 2010.
However, COBRA and ARRA benefits only extended until May 2010 and are no longer available through the COBRA and ARRA acts. That means that if you lost or quit your job after May 2010 than you can not qualify for reduced premiums with COBRA and ARRA.
What do I do if I can't pay the COBRA medical insurance premiums?
Given that many people find that COBRA health insurance is just too expensive without the assistance of the COBRA and ARRA premium subsidy, there are many other options you can explore as an alternative to COBRA and ARRA.
Alternative Health Insurance Options if You Can't Afford COBRA without the ARRA Benefit: