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Tell Your Senator to Support the Equal Access to COBRA Act
  1. Signatures
    210 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. The U.S. Senate
  2. Created By
    Dana Rudolph
    Boston, MA
About this Petition Petition Letter
Why This Is Important

The federal COBRA program allows people who have lost their jobs to continue employer-provided health insurance for up to 36 months. At a time of high unemployment, many families rely on such coverage. COBRA covers the former employee and beneficiaries, including opposite-sex spouses -- but not same-sex spouses or partners, even if they had been covered under the employer's plan.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has introduced the "Equal Access to COBRA Act of 2010" (S. 3182), which would give same-sex partners the same access as married spouses to COBRA health coverage. The bill has just been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Please send a message to your senators asking them to co-sponsor this legislation and support equality in health care coverage.

Recent Signatures

Please Support the Equal Access to COBRA Act

Greetings,

At a time of high unemployment, many people are relying on COBRA health coverage for themselves and their families if they lose their jobs. As you may know, COBRA allows former employees to continue their employer-provided health coverage for up to 36 months.

While COBRA covers the former employee and beneficiaries, including opposite-sex spouses, it does not cover same-sex spouses or partners, even if they had been covered under the employer's plan.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has introduced the "Equal Access to COBRA Act of 2010" (S. 3182), which would give same-sex partners the same access as married spouses to COBRA coverage.

If you haven't already, I urge you to sign on as a co-sponsor of Sen. Boxer's Equal Access to COBRA Act.

Thank you,

[Your name]