The Federal law known as COBRA requires sponsors of group health plans with 20 or more employees to allow employees and their dependents the opportunity to continue their group health insurance benefits in certain circumstances.

COBRA Benefits must be extended to eligible individuals if any of the following qualifying events occur that cause the individual to lose coverage under the group health plan.

Employee and Dependents:

• Termination of employment/Reduction of hours.

Dependents only:

• Divorce/legal separation.
• Death of employee.
• Child no longer dependent according to the terms of the plan.
• Entitlement to Medicare.
• Bankruptcy of Employer
• Termination of employment/reduction of hours of the employee (for reasons other than gross misconduct).

The length of COBRA benefits depend on the type of qualifying event.  For termination of employment/reduction of hours, the maximum COBRA benefit available is 18 months, measured from the date of the qualifying event.

For all other qualifying events, the maximum COBRA benefit available is 36 months.

The employer’s COBRA plan administrator must provide all relevant COBRA notices to any affected individuals within the required timeframe set by COBRA regulations.

For more information, visit the Department of Labor website to review the latest COBRA regulations:

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html

CobraAid specializes in helping employers with in-house COBRA administration.  Our COBRA software, up-to-date notices, and e-mail support for your COBRA questions are all designed to help your company get COBRA compliant.

 For more information about CobraAid's COBRA Compliance Program:

Employers Click Here

Brokers Click Here.

For a Free COBRA Employers Guide, CLICK HERE.

See how easy it is:

Watch the COBRA Software Demo