My insurance coverage from my former employer expires at the end of the month. Today information about COBRA insurance benefits arrived in the mail along with my son’s bill for room and board at college. The cost of extending our insurance benefits through COBRA will be $1,600.00 per month; my son’s bill was $3,300.00. We had speculated that extending insurance would cost around $1,200.00 that was obviously optimistic and naïve. Extending our current insurance coverage will cost our family around $500 per person, per month.

Turns out we are not alone in trying to figure out how in the world we can afford to extend our insurance benefits. According to www.thinkprogess.org , 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance EVERY DAY, that’s 100,000 people a week. Fortunately, President Obama included a provision for COBRA subsidies for the recently unemployed in the stimulus bill he signed into law this week. The stipend offered amounts to 65% of the cost of COBRA to be covered by federal subsidies to employers. This subsidy will mean continued coverage for my family while giving me time to find new employment and benefits over the next 9 months. There were other health care provisions in the bill that were removed. Conservatives succeeded in forcing the removal of provisions that would have allowed workers “to stay on Cobra until they qualified for Medicare or enrolled in Medicaid if they couldn’t afford COBRA premiums even with the subsidies.”

My family will directly benefit from the stimulus bill and I am grateful for that. The stimulus bill was passed with the support of just 3 Republican Senators. No members of the Republican Party in the US House of Representatives voted for this bill. SC Governor Sanford, Senators Graham and DeMint went out of their way to preen and strut before any camera or microphone available about how truly awful the stimulus bill would be for America, offering no viable alternative other than more tax cuts for corporations. Once again Republicans chose political dogma over economic reality and compassion for other’s less fortunate.

Our family is truly fortunate in that my husband’s business continues to thrive and we can rely on this source of income to see us through this period. Every day I think of other families who are not as lucky. There are so many families living on the edge of poverty, unable to make mortgage payments or even buy adequate food for their families. Many folks for the very first time in their lives, will have to apply for assistance, visit food banks, ask friends and families for help. One thing I’ve learned from past experience with financial hardship is that people in general are kind and generous but you must ask for what you need and that means setting aside your pride and shame to reach out for the help that you need. The other lesson I learned is that you take what you need when you need it and pay it back when you can. Take assistance with the idea that when you get back on your feet you will pay it forward. When you look around there are always others who have less, who are struggling harder to stay afloat. Even if all you can offer is a kind word, a warm meal some encouragement do what you can.

There are tough days ahead and we must do our best to look out for each other, it’s clear that the political leadership in South Carolina aren’t willing to do anything to help anyone but themselves and their own careers.

“Demand at food banks across the country increased by 30 percent in 2008 from the previous year,” according to a survey by Feeding America. Even food pantries in upscale communities are seeing an uptick in demand. “These are people who never really had to ask for help before,” said Brenda Beavers of the Salvation Army.

The number of U.S. workers drawing unemployment benefits “jumped to a record high of nearly 5 million,” the Labor Department reported yesterday. It’s the highest number since 1967 when the government began keeping such records.

www.thinkprogress.org