Last week, Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri signed into law a bill which now extends the COBRA subsidy to laid-off employees who worked for small businesses.
For the rest of the country, the 65 percent COBRA premium reduction only is available for Americans who worked in companies with 20 more workers under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The new state law will open the doors to all laid-off employees, giving them a big gulp of short term health insurance relief.
We don’t know exactly how long bills usually take to become law, but comparatively, this one must have been near light speed.
Just days after Rhode Island lawmakers realized small business workers would be left out of the subsidy and forced to find COBRA alternatives, they introduced a procedural change to the law, passed it, and got it signed.
Part of the reason lawmakers had to act fast was because of a federally-imposed April 17 deadline to make changes, reported the Providence Journal, but still, the speed is impressive.
“Hundreds of Rhode Islanders will now be able to sign up for this program and it will be more affordable for everyone because of the federal subsidy. At the end of the day, this is just about giving more Rhode Islanders that are hurting right now — who are out of work and struggling for health insurance — the help they need to get the benefit and reduce expenses, ” said Governor Carcieri.