'Mini-COBRA' could save health benefits for many

Pete Giunta, 53, of West Chester, lost his landscaping job in December, and now he's falling through the cracks in health-insurance coverage, just like millions of Americans.

But a bill expected to pass any day in the Pennsylvania legislature could help him keep his insurance, along with thousands of Pennsylvanians who have lost jobs recently with small businesses.

"Without this legislation," Giunta said, "we could lose the house."

Giunta worked 25 years for a printer and was laid off at age 50. He worked three years for a landscaper before being laid off again.

Giunta has been to the emergency room four times since November for stomach problems - and needs health insurance.

His employer agreed to keep Giunta's coverage through March. But when Giunta applied to extend that coverage under COBRA, he was denied.

COBRA is a federal law that allows employees who have lost jobs to continue on their former employer's plan for up to 18 months.

But COBRA applies only to companies with 20 or more employees. Giunta's company had 12 workers, so COBRA was not an option.

The Governor's Office says 25 percent of Pennsylvanians employed in the private sector work for companies with two to 19 employees.

Forty states, including New Jersey, have passed what is known as "mini-COBRA" legislation, which extends COBRA benefits to small businesses.

But not Pennsylvania.

Not yet.

This issue is especially important now because of a provision in the recently enacted federal stimulus package that makes COBRA coverage extremely attractive.

Under the old COBRA, an employee who lost his job could continue on his ex-employer's plan but had to pay 100 percent of the premium cost. This was usually so expensive that fewer than 10 percent of eligible employees signed up.

With the stimulus package, the federal government will pay 65 percent of the COBRA premium for nine months. So if Pennsylvania passes its mini-COBRA law, workers like Giunta could continue their benefits for 35 cents on the dollar.

Giunta said that if the legislation passes, he could continue his coverage through his former employer for only $180 a month - much better than anything he could purchase as an individual.

Nearly 30,000 Pennsylvanians who worked for small businesses have lost their jobs since the recession began, according to a spokesman for the governor's Office of Health Care Reform.

Expanding the program to small businesses would not cost Pennsylvania any money. The federal government would bear the cost.

Small companies also would not pay more, but they could see more sick people signing up for their health plans through COBRA, and that could raise their health premiums over time.

The mini-COBRA legislation passed the Senate and House last month. State Rep. Anthony M. DeLuca (D., Allegheny), chair of the House Insurance Committee, promised that the small differences between the House and Senate versions would be settled quickly and that a bill would be on the governor's desk by mid-May.

"This has to happen, and we'd be very foolish not to take care of our workers," DeLuca said.

The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee is scheduled to consider the House version, nearly identical to the Senate version, today.

Workers who lost their jobs between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009, would be eligible for the COBRA subsidy.

There is one twist to Giunta's situation.

He is gay and lives with his partner of 14 years, Rob Minutola, 54.

Minutola is a driver for Rosenberger's Dairy. He gets health benefits through his employer. If he were married, his wife would be eligible for benefits. Giunta is not.

The law in Pennsylvania does not require businesses to offer benefits to domestic partners. A spokesman for Rosenberger's said it was company policy to offer benefits only to spouses and children.

According to Lynn Zeitlin of Equity Advocates of Pennsylvania, a nonprofit advocacy group, all 27 Fortune 500 companies based in Pennsylvania offer domestic-partner benefits, but many other companies do not.

"If Pennsylvania would accept domestic-partner relationships," Giunta said, "I wouldn't be having this problem at all."