Heath insurance benefits and federal unemployment benefits are coming to an end very soon.
On Monday, Sept. 6, the U.S. government will end unemployment benefits, including the extra $300 gig-working Americans were getting to help in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will reportedly affect about 7.5 million people, the Huffington Post reports.
So far, 26 states – the majority of which are run by Republican governors – have already halted federal benefits because they claimed the aid money would make people not want to take a job. While the cancellations pushed some to seek out employment, others sunk deeper into financial hardship.
“Around 7.5 million people are poised to lose *all federal unemployment benefits* in a week. They’re going to $0 in jobless aid as delta cases + hospitalizations surge. The looming UI cliff is 3x larger than the previous biggest one in 2013, so it’s not really close,” tweeted Congress reporter Joseph Zeballos-Roig.
Another pandemic aid program set to expire is Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which caters to people who have run out of their state’s benefits period.
In the meantime, the Biden administration has called on states to use emergency Rona funds to help the millions in America who still don’t have jobs.
