Original Article on The New York Times

While lawmakers in Washington continue to debate how to make health care affordable for more Americans, thousands of unemployed New Yorkers like Rhonda R. Baumser are suddenly struggling to hang onto their health coverage. Until this month, Rhonda Baumser, who is unemployed, got a federal subsidy that paid most of her health insurance costs. Tracey Lutz is another unemployed New Yorker whose subsidy for insurance under the Cobra program ended last month. Ms. Baumser, a lifelong resident of Bayside, Queens, had been relying on a federal subsidy that paid two-thirds of her health insurance premium, enabling her to maintain the same coverage she had before she was laid off in November 2008. The subsidy was intended to avert the loss of insuran...(read more)