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< Back to Previous Page COBRA Unemployment Benefits for Families Not So Beneficial For many Washington D.C. area families, as well as Americans across the entire nation, facing unemployment can cause a myriad of problems.  In many instances, the lack of employment, as well as an income, leads to a number of issues that may trickle down to the family courts.  This is especially true regarding issues of child support arrangements, which oftentimes provide clauses regarding the payment and provision of healthcare insurance for children.  Unfortunately for unemployed individuals, most persons receive or apply for healthcare coverage through the discounted programs and rates with their employer.  When an individual is terminated or laid off from their job, this healthcare coverage generally terminates as well for most employees.  However, in order to protect the needs of workers and their families, the United States government has implemented a program known as COBRA, which allows recently unemployed individuals to continue theirs, as well as their dependents’, healthcare coverage for a period of time at a relatively stable rate ideally.  However, as nationwide studies are beginning to point out, the costs of continuing personal healthcare insurance, let alone healthcare insurance for families, consumers a relatively huge chunk of the typical unemployment benefits these individuals would receive.  In fact, most unemployed individuals wishing to continue their healthcare coverage via the federal COBRA program will incur costs tabulating over one-third of their unemployment benefits.  For family coverage, this figure increases to an astounding eight-four percent of unemployment benefits nationally.  This can create massive amounts of havoc regarding individuals mandated to make child support or alimony payments to their dependents or ex-spouse, as well as for those individuals required by child custody agreements to provide healthcare coverage to their children.  In these extenuating circumstances, a family law attorney in the Washington D.C. area, attorney and mediator Lynn Andretta, can request the family courts to adjust child support or alimony agreements to more feasible levels.          Contact Lynn Andretta to discuss your legal options and find solutions for any Dispute or ADR related legal situations in Washington DC area or nationwide.

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