Good news for laid-off workers: yesterday, President Obama signed into law a six-month extension of the subsidy for COBRA health plans for laid-off workers. The legislation also extends the period of eligibility for two months.

Here are the particulars. The subsidy, which picks up 65 percent of the cost of COBRA premiums, was originally enacted earlier this year as part of the stimulus package and gave recipients nine months of subsidized coverage. Early recipients were already starting to get bills for the full premium. The new legislation adds another six months of subsidies on top of that, or 15 months in all.

The original law applied only to workers who were laid off between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009. The new law extends eligibility for the subsidies to people laid of through Feb. 28, 2010.

The Wall Street Journal reports that more than 14 million Americans may be eligible for the subsidies. And many of them are likely to take advantage of the deal. In fact a lot of them already have. The percentage of workers who use their COBRA coverage has doubled (from 19 to 38 percent) since the program began, according to a recent survey.

If you have questions about the subsidy or your eligibility, contact your health plan for more information, advises the U.S. Department of Labor. The DOL maintains a COBRA subsidy information page here.

—Nancy Metcalf, senior program editor