COBRA Con

Total Black: $67.13
Total Red: $230,258.15

A few days back I received a notice from my former law firm that COBRA payments for health insurance will be increasing.  Currently I pay $199.61 a month for medical and dental health insurance coverage through Aetna.  I didn’t opt in to the firm’s coverage until February 2009, once the Stimulus Package had been approved and passed, because it provided a significant subsidy for people who had been laid-off or were still unemployed.  Without that subsidy health care coverage would have been approximately $536.00 a month.  I doubted that I could afford it, especially when New York pays only $405.00 a week in unemployment benefits.  Now the subsidy has expired and I’m facing that question again.  The Stimulus Package funds only authorized nine months of subsidization.  Nine!  Congress decided to debate health care coverage and pass a health care bill, while not bothering to addressing the risk many will face by losing the coverage they have if the subsidies aren’t extended.

Cutting Costs, Corners . . . and Concerns

Total Black: $435.42
Total Red: $230,977.94

I’ve received a lot of comments, questions, feedback, and suggestions over the past day or so.  Since the blog is just beginning to pick up traffic, I have the luxury of responding directly in a post to many of those responses.  First though I need to lay out my monthly expenses.  That’s something I haven’t done.