Web Site and Toll-free Line Will Help Unemployed Workers Appeal Denials of COBRA Premium Assistance Under Recovery Act

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced a new Web site (www.ContinuationCoverage.net) and helpline (1-866-400-6689) where certain unemployed workers may request expedited review of a denial by their former employers of eligibility for COBRA premium assistance under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(ARRA).

CMS has contracted with MAXIMUS Federal Services, Inc., a subsidiary of MAXIMUS, Inc., to review requests for expedited review of denials and make recommendations - subject to CMS's review - on whether individuals are eligible for health insurance premium assistance under the Recovery Act's expansion of COBRA continuation coverage. Maximus will also answer questions about the premium assistance program and the expedited review process. Contact information for the Web site and helpline is provided below.

To help displaced workers maintain health care coverage for themselves and their families, the Recovery Act provides a 65 percent subsidy for health insurance premiums for workers who have elected COBRA after they have been involuntarily terminated from their jobs. "COBRA coverage" generally refers to the continuation of coverage provisions of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), which apply to employers with twenty or more employees. The ARRA-established subsidy is also available to eligible Federal, state, and local government employees, and, if state law requires certain continuation coverage, to workers for private sector employers with fewer than twenty employees.

The Recovery Act's premium assistance applies to periods of continuation coverage beginning on or after February 17, 2009 (when ARRA became law), and lasts for up to nine months.

To qualify for premium assistance, a worker must be involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, and elect continuation coverage. The subsidy ends when the worker is offered any new employer-sponsored health care coverage or becomes eligible for Medicare. Workers who were involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and February 16, 2009, but who failed to elect COBRA coverage at that time, most likely because it was unaffordable, or who elected COBRA after September 1, 2008, but let it drop because it was unaffordable, would be given an additional 60 days after employer notifications are released to elect COBRA and receive the subsidy. Depending on actions taken by their states, individuals with state continuation coverage may also be eligible for this additional election period. To ensure that the premium assistance is targeted at workers who are most in need, the subsidy generally will be available only to people whose income does not exceed $125,000 for individuals ($250,000 for families).

When an individual's former group health plan denies access to ARRA's premium assistance, he or she may request an expedited review of the denial. Under the law, CMS handles requests for review for all Federal government employees, employees of state and local governments, and
those individuals covered by certain state continuation coverage laws (sometimes called "mini-COBRA" programs) that apply to employers with fewer than 20 employees. Decisions on appeals will be made within 15 business days after receipt.

For more information, visit www.ContinuationCoverage.net. For the toll-free helpline, which is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, dial 1-866-400-6689. (TTY: 1-866-631-5610). When appropriate, MAXIMUS Federal Services will direct callers to the Department of Labor
(DOL), which handles COBRA cases involving private employers with 20 or more employees. DOL may be reached directly at 1-866-444-3272. DOL's help site may be accessed at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/cobra.html.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Holocaust Web Site at Emory Launches Non-English Versions

Holocaust Denial on Trial (HDOT.org), a Web site founded by Emory University professor Deborah Lipstadt to help readers identify and reject Holocaust denial, is launching in four new languages: Arabic, Farsi, Russian and Turkish. These translations are designed to spread the original site's messages to areas where Holocaust denial goes the most unchallenged.

According to Dr. Lipstadt, over the past few years there has been a serious increase in online Holocaust denial. "Deniers are attacking the entire history of the Holocaust piece by piece. Our site puts basic, easily accessible information into the hands of people encountering sophisticated content designed to confuse them," says Lipstadt.

At each of the new sites, visitors will be greeted by a complete parallel home page, site navigation and content in their language of choice. They will be able to search the site's database in the new languages as well. "This project significantly expands the reach of HDOT.org in regions of the world where a significant amount of Holocaust denial is happening," says Lipstadt.

In addition, HDOT.org has added significantly to its offering of more than 30 myth/fact sheets, available in all five languages. These fact sheets confront Holocaust denial head-on by listing various myths about the Holocaust versus actual facts. The myth/fact sheets have been HDOT.org's most popular destination.

In conjunction with this launch, HDOT also announces the creation of a new podcast series, available through Emory's iTunes University: "Holocaust Education and Online Hate Speech" includes podcasts featuring such figures as Lipstadt, renowned Holocaust historian Saul Friedlander and professor Ken Waltzer, who uncovered fraud in a recent and highly publicized Holocaust memoir.

"As so much of the strategy that deniers employ involves spreading their falsehoods on the Internet, we worked with Professor Lipstadt to have scholarly, authoritative resources available in podcasts. Some of the most respected experts on denial on the Internet are interviewed," observes, Emory University's director of academic technology services.

The podcasts will form the core of several new lesson plans being produced for advanced high school and college courses that will help educators and the public approach the complex of social, historical, political and ideological issues that emerge in the study of Holocaust denial.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage