COBRA Costs: The Good News, Bad News and Good News

by Clive Riddle, August 27, 2010

The good news: earlier this summer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, in their Behind the Numbers Medical Cost Trends for 2011 report, had this to say about COBRA costs:  “COBRA costs are expected to return to more normal levels in 2011. COBRA subsidies passed by Congress in 2009 created a 1% upswing in the medical trend. Laid-off workers who continued their healthcare coverage typically incurred medical costs of two to four times higher than those of other workers. In 2010, the combination of higher unemployment and new government subsidies to pay for COBRA coverage led to a significant increase in COBRA coverage. A combination of declining unemployment and expiration of the COBRA subsidies is expected to lead to reduced enrollment in COBRA in 2011.”

The bad news: Aon Consulting has just released results from their 2010 Benefits Survey, which found average monthly COBRA premium costs increases from 2009 for the cheaper HMO policies took an extra annual $360 for single coverage and $960 for family coverage from the unemployed and others who opted for COBRA coverage. Here’s a table we compiled from the Aon survey results:

COBRA Monthly Premiums	2010	2009	% Increase	Total Increase
HMO
Employee Only	$429	$399	7.5%	$30
Employee +1	$879	$783	12.3%	$96
Employee + Children	$872	$844	3.3%	$28
Employee + Family	$1,251	$1,171	6.8%	$80
PPO
Employee Only	$449	$439	2.3%	$10
Employee +1	$925	$903	2.4%	$22
Employee + Children	$875	$909	-3.7%	-$34
Employee + Family	$1,310	$1,275	2.7%	$35

"The increased frequency and duration of COBRA use is creating a significant strain on the program, leading to higher costs. Those who are unemployed, and facing uncertainty about employment prospects and future COBRA availability, are utilizing the program more than we've traditionally seen to treat a variety of conditions prior to potentially losing coverage. This coupled with the high unemployment rate, is placing the COBRA program in a unique and unprecedented position."" John Zern, Aon Consulting’s executive vice president and Health & Benefits Practice director tells us.

The good news: the COBRA premium increased from 2009 to 2010 on a percentage basis were in line with non-COBRA premium increases, even though the population would be considered to be much higher risk.