Chattanooga: No extended benefits

Connie Parker had worked for a nylon manufacturer for more than eight years when she was laid off in January.

Realizing she would lose her health insurance, the Harrison resident rushed to get her two daughters, ages 6 and 13, to the doctor for check-ups before her benefits expired.

Now she’s at a loss about how to replace her health insurance.

She could choose to continue her coverage through COBRA, which would require her to pay the full price of the premium plus a 2 percent administrative fee. That is financially impossible, said Ms. Parker, a single mother who was at the Tennessee Career Center at Eastgate Town Center last week to expand her job search.

The average family COBRA premium in Tennessee is $939 a month, according to a January report from Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization focused on achieving affordable, quality health care.

“That’s something I can’t afford,” Ms. Parker said. “It’s very important, but now the house payments are going to have to come first, before the health care.”

As of November, more than 2.7 million people had lost their jobs nationwide since the recession began in 2007, and many lost their employer-sponsored health insurance, too, according to the Families USA report.

Jobless rates in Tennessee and Georgia are at their highest levels in more than two decades, with rates of 7.9 percent in Tennessee and 8.1 percent in Georgia.

Dr. Paul Fronstin, director of the health research and education program of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, said the newly unemployed have few health care coverage options.

Laid-off workers can continue their employer-based coverage for usually 18 months through COBRA, but most newly unemployed cannot afford the prohibitive cost, he said. Only 9 percent of people who lose their jobs elect to take COBRA, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

A COBRA family premium would consume more than 97 percent of the average unemployment benefit for a family in Tennessee, according to Families USA.

However, help may be on the may in the federal stimulus package, up for debate in the U.S. Senate this week. If passed, the bill would let states open Medicaid eligibility — TennCare in Tennessee — to employees who have recently lost their jobs and would give federal funding to cover 65 percent of COBRA premiums for up to 12 months.

RESOURCES for NEWLY UNEMPLOYED

Rae Bond, executive director of the Chattanooga and Hamilton County Medical Society, said demand for services from Project Access, operated by the medical society, is increasing as a result of the economic downturn. Project Access provides free health care services to uninsured residents of Hamilton County.

“We’re getting more calls from more patients who are in their 50s and worked all their lives, always had insurance and have been downsized,” she said.

Though affordable health insurance on the private market can be nearly impossible to find for those not in perfect health, a high-deductible plan, with low premiums and catastrophic coverage, can offer some security in case of serious medical needs, Dr. Fronstin said.

The high deductible, however, means a lot of out-of-pocket expense before coverage kicks in — deductibles in 2007 averaged $2,753 for a family plan, according to America’s Health Insurance Plans.

For those who don’t qualify for TennCare, the state-supported Cover Tennessee programs can provide comprehensive health coverage for uninsured children, coverage for adults who are uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions or drug coverage for up to five prescriptions, plus diabetic supplies, through CoverRx.

However, enrollment in CoverRx would disqualify one from receiving deeply discounted prescription drugs that are available through many pharmaceutical companies, so the uninsured should check into those discounts first through the Partnership for Prescription Assistance before committing to a drug plan that may not cover all needed medications, Ms. Bond said.

Tennesseans Between Jobs, part of Cover Tennessee, offers coverage to the recently unemployed or those who have had work hours reduced to less than 20 hours per week. Individuals must have been earning a salary of less than $55,000 to qualify. The plan provides very basic coverage, but preventive care is 100 percent covered, said Joe Burchfield, spokesman for Cover Tennessee.

A number of clinics in town offer care with payments based on a sliding fee scale, including the Southside and Dodson Avenue Community Health Centers and the public health clinics of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department.