With the national unemployment rate nearing 9%, keeping your health insurance while you are not working is a major concern. Since 1985, the newly unemployed have been able to enroll in COBRA, which allows you to remain under your most recent employer's group health plan as long as you can pay the monthly premium in full. Since this premium can be prohibitively expensive, in February 2009 Congress included a 65% premium reduction for qualifying individuals' monthly COBRA costs.

Not everyone is eligible for COBRA benefits. It depends on the size of your employer, whether you are considered a qualified beneficiary and the reason you are losing your current group health insurance.

1. Group health plans provided by employers with 20 or more part or full-time employees working more than 50% of the previous year's business days are subject to COBRA.http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html
2. A qualified beneficiary is an employee, employee's spouse or employee's dependent child who is covered by the group health plan at the time of the event that causes the need for COBRA.
3. A qualified event is also necessary to obtain COBRA coverage. These events include voluntary or involuntary termination of employment, as long as those reasons do not include gross misconduct.http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html
   1. For spouses and/or dependent children, additional events might also qualify them for COBRA, including divorce from or death of the employee with the health coverage.

It is important to note that in order to even be considered for COBRA coverage, you must have been enrolled in your employer's group health plan until your separation date and the plan must continue to be available for employees still on payroll.

1. Your employer must notify their health plan administrators that you have become eligible for COBRA within 30 days. You must then be sent an election notice within 14 days after that.
2. You have 60 days from your separation date to elect COBRA coverage, and 45 days from your election date to pay your first premium.http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html

The election notice varies from state to state but generally consists of a couple simple forms. Just make sure to get these in within 60 days to take advantage of COBRA coverage.

As part of the 2009 stimulus package the federal government will cover 65% of your COBRA healthcare premiums for up to 9 months. There are some criteria you will need to make sure you meet to receive this subsidy:

1. You will need to have lost your job in an involuntary manner between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009.
2. You must qualify for, and elect, COBRA coverage.http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-cobra-premiumreductionEE.html
3. You must earn less than $125,000 for the year ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly). If you apply for the subsidy and end up earning more than this amount, you may end up having to pay back any subsidy amount in taxes.

Making sure you receive the subsidy is actually fairly simple. The election packet you receive from your employer will contain the necessary forms to fill out and send in to receive the subsidy amount. You will not receive any payments; rather your monthly premium will be billed at only 35% of the full amount that would normally be due.

You are eligible to receive the subsidy for up to nine months. The subsidy will end in less than nine months if:

1. You become eligible for Medicare.
2. You are eligible to elect coverage under a new employer provided group health plan, such as when you or your spouse get a new job.
3. You come to the end of your COBRA coverage period.
4. You fail to pay your remaining COBRA premiums on time.http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-cobra-premiumreductionEE.html

Applying for COBRA and the federal subsidy is a relatively simple, if stressful process. Your employer is responsible for providing you all of the necessary forms promptly, and all you have to do is return them to ensure that you and your family's health care coverage will continue.