Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

  Unemployed workers will be eligible for an additional two months of COBRA premium assistance for their health insurance coverage, under the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (HR 3326; P.L. 111-118) signed by President Obama on December 19. The COBRA benefits were scheduled to expire after December 31, but House lawmakers voted 395-to-34 to extend the benefits as part of the defense spending measure on December 16. Senate lawmakers cleared the measure for the president's signature on December 19 by a vote of 88 to 10.

  Extended eligibility for the 65-percent COBRA premium subsidy was originally enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (2009 Recovery Act) (P.L. 111-5). Under the new law, employees must have faced involuntary termination between September 1, 2008, and February 28, 2010, in order to qualify for the COBRA benefits. House lawmakers had also attempted to extend the COBRA benefits for six months in the Jobs for Main Street Bill of 2010, which is part of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (HR 2847) on December 16, but Senate lawmakers declined to consider that bill while the chamber was in the midst of debate on health care reform legislation.

  CCH Comment. Information on the COBRA extension is available in the CCH Tax Briefing on the House-approved Tax Extenders Bill of 2009 (HR 4213). The CCH Tax Briefing update on the Tax Extenders Bill of 2009 can be found at
http://CCHGroup.com/Legislation/TaxExtendersActof2009.pdf.

  By Stephen K. Cooper, CCH News Staff

Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2010, HR 2847