The billions expected to be put into the health care system as a result of the economic stimulus package will do little about the chronic conditions behind the nation’s large ranks of uninsured. It is just a temporary band aid to make COBRA medical insurance more affordable for people who lost their jobs. Currently it is so expensive for people to extend COBRA medical insurance that many do not do it. The stimulus package will drop the price by two-thirds.
People who worked for businesses that employ fewer than 20 people don’t qualify for COBRA medical insurance. So the government is bringing in more jobless people under Medicaid medical insurance. The federal government plans to pay for this, plus give states more money to run cost-shared part of the health insurance program. It’s an expensive lifeline with more than 40 billion to subsidize health care for the unemployed and more than twice that to support Medicaid.
