Essex County College's two-day free workshop on April 22 and 23 deals with the changes that have been brought to COBRA - the law provides the laid-off employees with the option to remain on their former employer's health insurance plan.

The workshop, sponsored by the U. S Department of Labor's (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration and the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, is scheduled from 8 a. m. to 4 p. m. on the two days. It aligns with the various 'components' of COBRA - namely, the employers, health plan fiduciaries and health plan service providers.

The COBRA subvention forms an important part of the Congress' February-adopted $787 billion economic stimulus program - essentially the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

One of the chief topics to be taken up during the workshop includes the new 65 percent federal subsidy of the price-tag of premiums that are being paid by jobless employees who use COBRA.

However, since the federal COBRA law relates to companies with at least 20 workers, thirty-nine states and Washington, D. C., have come up with "mini COBRA" laws, whereby small companies permit their quitting employees to carry on with their group coverage, to enable them the benefit from full COBRA subsidy. While these states have already enacted the legislation to extend the coverage period, others are deliberating on it.