cobra questions

[robynelise]

What is the name of your state? Worked in NJ-live in PA.

I resigned effective June 1st of this year at a company that was very unorganized, with no real Human Resource dept. No one at the company thought to send me Cobra papers (still have not rcvd them) and my insurance from this company was not terminated until today (9/14/03). Whose responsibility is it to see that I rcvd the Cobra papers, are there time lines companies have to follow and what is my next move as far as getting the Cobra papers?
Thank You!

 

[cbg]

The company has either 14 or 44 days, depending on whether they self-administer their COBRA or use a third party administrator, to provide COBRA information, starting from the last day of coverage. So if your insurance was not termed until today, the COBRA clock starts ticking today. It is their responsibility to see that you get the paperwork, not yours to request it. However, under the circumstances, I would probably want to be pro-active and contact them to let them know that you want to sign up for COBRA.

You have 60 days from the last day of coverage OR the notice of COBRA rights, whichever is later, to make the election, and from the date that you sign the election you have 45 days to send in the payment. They are not required to reactive your coverage until they have your check actually in their hands. However, at that time, the coverage MUST be reinstated retroactively to the date of cancellation.

IF (and I am not saying they will, just IF) they try to make the cancellation and COBRA election retroactive to your last day of employment, please post back and I'll tell you what to do then.

 

[robynelise]

The scenario has changed just a bit. I rcvd my letter from the Health Insurance company. The last day I worded was June 1,2003. My coverage was terminated May 31, 2003. I rcvd three severance checks up until the first week of July, which had my share of health benefit payments deducted from my paycheck. Something does not seem right.

 

[cbg]

Your former employer has FAR exceeded the allowable time in which to send you COBRA information. While there is nothing illegal about cancelling your insurance May 31 if your last day of work was June 1 (in fact, that's what most employers would do) in that case the LAST day they could send you the paperwork and still be in compliance with the law would be July 14 (44 days after the termination). This is compounded by the fact that insurance premiums being taking from your severance checks. Again, this is not illegal (though slightly unusual), but having done so they would be required to extend your coverage for the amount of time covered by the premiums they took out.

What you need to do is bring these discrepancies to their attention. Since you say they are a fairly disorganized company, it may be totally inadvertant. POLITELY (you catch more flies with honey, etc.) ask them about it and see what adjustments they are willing to make.

If the matter cannot be resolved to your satisfaction, you are free to file a complaint of COBRA violation with the Federal Department of Labor.

 

[porcelina68]

How many people work for your company? Under Federal regulations, employers who have under a certain number of employees aren't even required to offer COBRA insurance.

 

[cbg]

Good point, porcelina; however, state law in PA and NJ both would require that the poster be offered continuation of health insurance even if the company had less than 20 employees (which is the standard for COBRA).