• The Consolidated Comprehensive Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985 is a federal law that gives workers and their families who lose their health insurance benefits after they leave their jobs the right to continue receiving those benefits. COBRA requires group health insurance plans sponsored by employers with 20 or more employees in the previous year to offer workers and their families the option of temporarily extending health coverage for 18 months, when such coverage would normally end. Qualified individuals must pay the entire premium that would otherwise be paid by the employer, plus a 2 percent administration fee. Typically, only about 10 percent of eligible workers choose COBRA benefits, usually because they cannot afford the costs after they lose their jobs.