(Update) Unemployed Americans Cannot Afford COBRA Health Insurance

Washington (dbTechno) - The non-profit group Families USA has made it clear in a new report that many unemployed Americans cannot afford COBRA health insurance.

COBRA, or the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, is a program that was put in place to help Americans who are unemployed get health insurance for their families.

There is clearly a problem though when, according to Families USA, only 25% of those eligible actually take advantage of it.

Families USA looked into this more deeply, checking up on just how much COBRA costs.

An analysis was done to compare average monthly premiums for family health insurance under COBRA, and how much on average an unemployed American receives monthly.

When they did their research, they found that for a family health insurance policy under COBRA, the montly premium is around $1,000.

This is quite high considering that on average, an unemployed American receives $1,300 in compensation each month.

When you break it down, this could be one reason why 47 million Americans remain uninsured.