As many of us well know, COBRA requires employers to offer a continuation of insurance coverage for laid-off employees. The continuation of benefits lasts for a period of 18 months, and typically employees would be responsible for the entirety of its cost. However, the COBRA subsidy program, which pays 65% of the cost for a period of 9 months, was introduced this last year to ease the financial burden of maintaining health care. For many, this subsidy will be expiring, and a new bill has been introduced into the Senate and House to expand the benefit period to 15 months.

It seems like every day more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon to help improve our country’s health care system. Recently, GE announced that they will be launching a $6 billion health care initiative intended to improve health care for people, and reduce cost. They call it “healthyimagination.”

To do this, GE is not only reanalyzing what products they are developing, but also the manner in which they are made. According to reports, GE has stated that they will supply 100 new innovations that will lower cost, and improve access to health care by 2015.

Democrats strategically dropped a proposal to expand Medicare this last week in an effort to build support for the current health care overhaul. The proposed Medicare expansion intended to offer individuals ranging from 55-64 years of age the ability to buy into Medicare early. This idea was originally introduced during September health care discussions; however, no action was taken on this plan. The original idea was to offer coverage to people older than 55 years of age if they were laid off, and did not have another means to obtain affordable health insurance coverage.

The average cost of a hospital birth is $10,000 -$12,000. Are you prepared to cover that expense if you find out that you do not have maternity care coverage under you current health insurance plan? Add to the hospital costs the charges for frequent doctor visits, prenatal vitamins and lab test, you can be facing a huge financial crisis.

Acquiring a health insurance plan is one of the best things a person can do to protect both their health, and their bank account. People must understand that major medical bills are currently the leading cause for bankruptcy in America. In addition, going without health insurance coverage also serves as a catalyst for individuals putting off treatment for a condition in its early stages of development. What they must realize is that the condition often worsens, and as a result becomes even more costly to treat.

Things have slowed down slightly in regards to the ongoing senate health care debate as differences are still shared over amendments. In particular, there is still controversy surrounding the amendment from Sen. John McCain addressing Medicare spending reductions, as well increased preventive care for women.

The biggest debate currently is over the Medicare amendment. The Medicare amendment would greatly influence the success of the current $848 billion health care bill. Essentially, it would remove/block $500 billion in Medicare reductions that would aid in funding the health care reform. The argument is that such cuts would be detrimental to current beneficiaries.

In March, the federally funded 65% subsidy for COBRA insurance began for workers who lost their employment between September 2008 and December of 2009. However, this subsidy only lasts for a period of 9 months, and as a result many Michiganians are now being faced with the dilemma of whether or not they will be able to afford their new unsubsidized insurance premiums.

According to recently released reports, the average premium for families on COBRA will skyrocket from roughly $360 to over $1,000 a month. With many workers still struggling to find employment, such a drastic jump is simply unrealistic to afford; specifically, the new insurance premium will essentially consume their entire unemployment check.

As difficult as it is to imagine taking on extra expenses when confronted with tuition bills, the cost of books, and the cost of housing, making sure you are insured during your college career is a necessity. So what things should college students and their parents consider when looking for a health insurance policy?

Today, many Universities are offering health insurance plans directly through the school. However, these plans, although considered to be moderately affordable, provide moderate coverage. Many University plans are limited benefit health insurance plans, and will not provide you the protection you need if confronted with major medical bills. The maximum benefits are extremely low, for example providing only $2,500 in benefits to single procedures. The thing people need to realize is that even the simplest medical procedures can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

At the center of the ongoing political debate is the question of how to counteract the continuous increase of medical procedures and insurance premiums. This has also become an increasing dilemma for small businesses as they attempt to neutralize the effects of an economic recession. In fact, in some states the cost of insurance premiums for small businesses has risen more than 140% over the past seven years.

These insurance rate increases actually outweigh the overall increase in operating costs of for hospitals and doctors. For example, while operating costs in the last 4 years have on average increased between 35-40% for health care providers, small business owners are said to have experienced an increase in insurance rates of upwards of 55%.

With everything that is going on with the current political health care debate, the question still remains how affordable a public option would actually be? Again, this question stems from underlining principles of how insurance functions; i.e., whether or not the number of individuals enrolled in the public health insurance plan would efficiently spread the risk across a large enough membership to help offset higher monthly premiums.