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Can medical insurance be canceled now that the new health care laws have been enacted?

A friend was laid off and was given COBRA medical insurance for 18 months. The 18 month period ends Oct. 31, 2010. Since the new health care laws have been enacted can they still cancel her medical insurance or are we playing under different rules now? From the first two answers it appears that this may be a "state" thing instead of being governed by a federal law. Which seems strange since the health care reform bill was a federal mandate. Anyway, we live in Virginia.

Public Comments

1. yup still can. I live in MA and required by law to have insurance or be fined, yes for health insurance. You can get fined in this state for not having the right insurance. The health insurance companies can cancel your policy here in spite of this.
2. medical insurance cannot be canceled in The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.but this does not mean that others must pay the premiums
3. COBRA is a federal regulation. The healthcare reform act did nothing in regards to increasing the term for COBRA, it is still 18 months. Maybe it's a matter of terminology but her policy is not going to be canceled, she's just coming to the end of the term. It was already against regulations for an insurance company to cancel anyone except for non-payment or application fraud. Healthcare reform does little in regards to cancelation except it makes it a little harder for the insurance company to cancel for application fraud. If she has pre-existing conditions many states have a high risk pool. Healthcare reform did establish a national high risk pool. It was supposed to start July 1 but has been either delayed in most states or the states have refused to implement it. If she doesn't have pre-existing conditions she's much better off getting her own individual policy.