I was on COBRA for a six month period once. It cost almost as much as my house payment. Its not a viable option for many people.

Ah, there's the rub. People have to pay for their insurance. What a strange concept.

Wow! That's great news! As long as she can afford it with no job that is.

I currently pay about $250/month for my family through my employer for my health insurance. My employer pays another $500 or so. So, if I lose my job and want to continue my coverage through COBRA then I'll have to come up with $750 a month with no income coming in. Yeah, THAT sounds awesome!

The fact that coverage is available doesn't mean it's affordable. For many workers, particularly those who have just lost their employment, paying for coverage through COBRA is not a realistic option.

COBRA is only an effective solution if you can handle the cost. When I quit my job almost a year ago to stay home with my daughter we couldn't afford my COBRA. I had really great insurance at my job and with my husband being a student working part-time (with about a $1,500 / month income) $1,100 / mo of insurance was impossible to pay. We were blessed to have the great insurance while we had it and I was still able to quit my job because we had savings and the ability to sign up for the fairly affordable group insurance offered by my husband's school. However, not everyone is as lucky to be able to make those decisions.

I don't support socialized medicine, but I wish we could find a solution that worked - maybe only allowing not-for-profit insurance companies or even better, getting the government completely out of the insurance and medical businesses altogether so the market can be more effective and creative in finding solutions to cover more individuals affordably. I don't pretend to have the answers, but there is a problem and COBRA is not always the solution.

What! You mean I would have to pay! I thought that society (everyone else) would take care of me.

COBRA

Another good idea, that is a failure because no on thought it through.

Been laid off enough times to know its unaffordable, but what would make it useful, would be to allow me the option to alter my benefits, raise my deductible and my copay, and drop certain coverages like eye exams and maybe dental. Instead, we are forced to keep the premium coverage that we were given when we were working and could afford those coverages.

Makes no sense not to allow the individuals to cut their premium costs, by changing their benefits.

Every time I have had the option to choose COBRA, it has exceeded $600 per month. No logic in that solution whatsoever.

Yeah, let's get rid of those evil insurance companies and all their employees, those capitalist pigs. After all they just invest their profits into stocks and bonds that fund commercial and residential development and growth in the commercial and industrial market, those capitalist employers, those entrepuerners, those researchers, all those superflucious non-goverment and non-governmental entities. Let's replace them with government employees that invest in nothing but consumption.

@ Navyvet-
Easy for you to point and laugh at others going through healthcare woes. If you truly are a Navy vet, "society (everyone else)" has "taken care of" your healthcare bills for a long time. You are the recipient of "socialized" medicine, my friend. Get a life.

If that's what it takes to make insurance affordable once again, then I'm all for it!

We have laws that REQUIRE parents to seek medical treatment for their children when it is necessary, yet we lack a way for them to pay for it. Is that fair?

My next-door neighbor owns his own business, but is unsure how much longer he can afford to pay for his outrageous insurance costs. Is it fair that insurance companies are putting him out of business?

Health care is NOT a luxury like many other items are.

If you're food and water bills doubled, tripled, or quadrupled simply because you lost your job, don't you think you'd be speaking out?

I don't understand how people can be so heartless about an issue that is so necessary yet so unaffordable for so many.

I think the government has no choice but to step in and help, because the health care industry seems unable or unwilling to come up with any good solutions on their own.

@Hey Lionheart: You insurance may be affordable, or free, but everything else will be more expensive. Push on a balloon on one side and it pops out on the other. The overuse of medical is a big problem in this country. Most medical is spent at end of life, a very strange thing to do, and most medical problems are the fault of lifestyle choices. Expensive test are another cause of increasing costs of insurance. The country is a bunch of hypocondriacs.

Ten years ago my wife had cancer and two months after treatment her employer went out of business (Terratron, Hardees resturant franchise).COBRA was not available from a bankrupt company, so we went self insured for five years ( try and get insurance after cancer). After broken bones, ambulance rides and expensive epilepsy test let alone the cancer treatment, I found self insurance not all that bad, a broken foot was half a months insurance premium.
Stop looking in my pocket to fund your needs. OUT

Mr. Ostler is obviously independently wealthy and doesn't live in the real world. He doesn't know that being out of a job means no income nor is he aware of the actual costs of COBRA.

Take my word for it -- being out of a job often means a real struggle just to stay in a home, not to mention having adequate food, etc.

Mr. Ostler -- stick to what you know.

I have a solution for Bob's friend who needs an operation and can't pay for it. Get an old coffee can and put a sign on it asking for people's spare change. Stick it in the cashier aisle at the grocery store. That's the way it's done in this country.