ARRA Provisions on COBRA Health Insurance Premium Reduction for Displaced Workers: Notice to One-Stop Career Centers and the Workforce System

This Webinar will explain an important recent health benefit subsidy for dislocated workers, which can save them almost two-thirds off their health insurance premium for up to nine months. Jointly sponsored by the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the Webinar will explain how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) liberalizes the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act’s (COBRA) health insurance benefit. ARRA enables eligible individuals who lose their jobs between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 to pay only 35 percent of their COBRA premium for up to nine months. This Webinar accompanies the release of a new ETA Training and Employment Notice (TEN), which encourages the One-Stop Career Centers to make available EBSA flyers, fact sheets and other materials, some of which are included in the TEN. These materials describe the premium reduction and the appeals procedure, which workers can use if they were denied the premium reduction. The new TEN No. 14-09 was issued November 16, 2009, and is entitled "Notice to One-Stop Career Centers and Others Concerning COBRA Premium Reduction and Extended Eligibility Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009."