4. Pensions are becoming a thing of the past. In 1979, more than 80 percent of U.S. workers retired with a defined-benefit pension; by 2001, only a little over 40 percent did so. (Eduardo Porter and Mary Williams Walsh, “Retirement Turns into a Rest Stop as Pensions and Benefits Dwindle,” New York Times, February 9, 2005.) As for health insurance, the health provisions of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) allow laid-off workers from eligible firms to continue with their company’s health insurance for eighteen months, if they pay 102 percent of the premiums. Because of these high costs, only about one in five unemployed workers utilizes the COBRA program (wwww.familiesusa.org.).