Last week, New Hampshire men and women lobbied lawmakers on behalf of a bill that would extend health care coverage to people who lose those benefits after they get a divorce. An Associated Press story in The Telegraph provided some interesting information about state Senator Martha Fuller Clark’s proposed New Hampshire divorce law, which would allow divorced spouses to stay on their ex-spouse’s insurance plan indefinitely or until they get remarried. Existing state and federal laws allow ex-spouses to buy extended insurance coverage under those policies for three years after the divorce, but proponents of this legislation claim that these COBRA costs are too expensive.

The story detailed the situation of Damon Josz, a father who divorced from his wife last year and then had to drop coverage for himself and a daughter from a previous marriage because the COBRA costs were too expensive. The self-employed mechanic added how this proposed New Hampshire divorce law is not “gender-specific” and stated that it would help both men and women who no longer have health insurance after divorce.

The Associated Press story detailed how insurance companies and organizations like Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Association of American Health Insurance Plans opposed this proposed New Hampshire law and even warned how it could lead to higher costs for employers. Clark disputed this claim by saying that taxpayers will brunt more costs in the long run if divorced spouses are left with no health insurance following divorce. We’ll keep you updated on any developments with this New Hampshire divorce law.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Divorce Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.