You may be able to stay on COBRA if you can afford the premiums, although keep in mind that there’s usually an 18-month limit to this option, said Laurel Lucia, director of the health-care program at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.

You may be able to stay on COBRA if you can afford the premiums, although keep in mind that there’s usually an 18-month limit to this option, said Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.

Enrique Lopezlira, the director of the low-wage work program at the University of California Berkeley Labor Center, said that while some hourly workers have enjoyed the new incentives, others remain boxed out because of health concerns and other pandemic-related challenges, such as a lack of child care.

Enrique Lopezlira, the director of the low-wage work program at the University of California Berkeley Labor Center, said that the lack of access to child care and safety concerns are keeping many workers out of the labor force, particularly women.

If you don’t have another job lined up that will provide health insurance, you may be eligible for Medicaid or a subsidized plan on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. Medicaid typically involves no or low monthly premiums, Lucia said. And marketplace plans are the cheapest they’ve ever been for many people, thanks to relief legislation passed in the pandemic.

About one-third of bank tellers were on some form of public assistance, from Medicaid to food stamps, according to a 2013 report from The Committee for Better Banks.

Jessie Hammerling, lead researcher for the Technology and Work Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said it is wise to be cautious with assumptions about automation.

Still, the subsidies may be coming late in the game for many people, said Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education. “Some workers who lost job-based coverage earlier in the pandemic and already enrolled in Medicaid or marketplace coverage may prefer to stay in that coverage to avoid further coverage transitions,” Lucia said.