COBRA is free for six months under the COVID relief bill. Do you qualify?

Americans who lost a job in the last 18 months are able to stay on or join their former employer's health care plan for free through Sept. 30. That provision of the American Rescue Plan Act went into effect April 1.

More than 2 million people could benefit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The way it works is through the federally administered program known as COBRA. If you work at a company with more than 20 employees and lose your job, you can remain on your employer-sponsored health insurance plan for 18 months through COBRA.

But under normal circumstances, COBRA can be significantly more expensive than employer-sponsored insurance. But COBRA is now free through the end of September. Here's how it works.

Who qualifies? Under the relief bill, anyone is eligible who has involuntarily lost their job or health insurance or had their hours reduced within the last 18 months.

Benefits are available to all those normally insurable under COBRA, meaning you and the family members who were already on your health plan.

Who doesn't qualify? Anyone who voluntarily left their job or chose to reduce their work hours. Also, if you were fired for gross misconduct, you and your dependents are not eligible for COBRA.

If you already have health insurance, whether through the government or your employer, you are not eligible to enroll in subsidized COBRA.

Also, beneficiaries who recently turned 26 (the cutoff age for dependents to stay on their parents' health insurance) and former spouses who lost their coverage due to a divorce will be unable to receive free COBRA benefits, but can expect lower costs "on Marketplace health insurance coverage thanks to provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021," according to the Labor Department.

How to enroll in COBRA. If you are newly eligible under the relief bill, your employer is required to notify you by May 31, said Grant Vaught, a Labor Department spokesperson. If your employer or the employment-based group health plan you were a part of do not notify you, the Labor Department recommends contacting your employer to request information on your eligibility.

If your employer waits until the May 31 deadline to notify you, you could miss out on two months of free coverage. So Thomas Rice, a UCLA professor of health policy, says you should contact your former employer as soon as possible. If you are not in a rush, you have until July 30 to enroll.