Late yesterday, President Obama signed into law the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 4691) to temporarily extend emergency unemployment benefits, the COBRA premium subsidy program, and a Medicare physician payment update, along with other programs, all of which had expired on February 28, 2010.  Under the Act, the 15-month COBRA premium subsidy is extended to those employees who are involuntarily terminated from March 1, 2010 through March 31, 2010. Without the extension, employees laid off after February 28, 2010 would have been ineligible for the subsidy. The Act also expands eligibility for the COBRA premium subsidy to certain individuals who are involuntarily terminated after they experience a qualifying event of a reduction in hours.