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Unemployment in the United States is not like unemployment anywhere else in the world. This situation is exposing all of the gaping holes in the American system.

Mass layoffs already, leading to mass loss of health insurance, and bills for COVID treatment already surfacing in the many thousands of dollars.

If people start to have trouble putting food on the table, shit could get ugly real fast.

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Though the employer-tied insurance issue is a problem generally, it’s somewhat less dire for the situation you describe above because of COBRA. (Especially less dire for the first 60 days, because you can retroactively opt-in for some period.)

https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/cobra-coverage/

Have you seen COBRA prices? You could easily go from $400/month (group rate + employer subsidized) to $2k+ for a good plan that covers a family.

No.

If I were laid-off, I would receive a maximum of $1600/mo from unemployment in my state for 6 months.

So, the trade-off is either COBRA or mortgage payment.

I doubt the US medical system will get better in the short term.

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