I do not have my own story about how health care has affected my life adversely. I am writing from a professional perspective. I am the HR Director for a small business and see the effects of the COBRA stimulus efforts and the message it sends to less than good employees. The rules state that if an employee is involuntarily terminated for reasons other than misconduct, the employee qualifies for 65% contribution from the government, and they only have to pay 35% of their COBRA premiums for up to 9 months. The problem is, there is no clear idea of 'misconduct'. The state unemployment laws are equally unnerving. If I terminate an employee for clear disregard of attendance rules, for example - showing up late, leaving whenever they want, taking excessive time off, and in general being an all around slacker employee, they are involuntarily terminated. They still qualify for unemployment benefits and the 65% contribution toward their COBRA benefits because misconduct generally means theft, violence, drug use, etc. Not basic violation of company policies such as attendance. So, we are sending the message to lazy employees that it's ok to do less than average work and live off the laurels of other people. My suggestion would be for the administration to implement clear guidelines as to what misconduct means, and include in the definition, violation of company policies such as attendance, insubordination, etc. This needs to be done on a state level as well, as the unemployment numbers are artificially elevated. It looks as though millions of 'poor americans' are unemployed, as they are filing for unemployment. Factually, a good portion do not want to work. Some of them have pushed the envelope until the employer has no choice but to terminate them and replace them because their performance is so poor. But because they are not dealing drugs at the office, hitting anyone or stealing, they collect unemployment, thereby inflating the numbers. I wholly support Mr. Obama and think he is the best thing since sliced bread. But seriously, from an HR perspective, the COBRA stimulus efforts and unemployment guidelines need to have more solid guidelines regarding what misconduct is, and should seriously include violation of basic company policies. No person should be rewarded for less than average work.