Congress passed the landmark Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) health benefit provisions in 1985. The law amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code and the Public Health Service Act to provide temporary continuation of group health coverage that otherwise might be cancelled.

COBRA provisions are regulated by the United States Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

COBRA requires continuation coverage to be offered to covered employees, their spouses, former spouses, and dependent children when group health coverage would otherwise be lost due to certain specific events. Group health coverage for COBRA participants is often more expensive than the amount that active employees are required to pay, since the employer usually pays part of the cost of employees' coverage and all of that cost can be charged to individuals receiving continuation coverage.

The law generally applies to all group health plans maintained by private-sector employers with 20 or more employees, or by state or local governments.

If you become entitled to elect COBRA continuation coverage when you otherwise would lose group health coverage under a group health plan, you should consider all options you may have to get other health coverage before you make your decision.

One coverage option is the new health insurance marketplace (Marketplace). The Marketplace offers health insurance that includes comprehensive coverage, from doctors and medications to hospital visits. Qualified health plans in the Marketplace present their price and benefit information in simple terms so that you can make apples-to-apples comparisons. For more information about health insurance options available through Florida Blue and the Marketplace, please contact Florida Blue at 1-800-876-2227 or visit healthcare.gov

Another option may be "special enrollment" into other group health coverage. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), if you or your dependents are losing eligibility for group health coverage, including eligibility for continuation coverage, you may have a right to special enroll (enroll without waiting until the next open season for enrollment) in other group health coverage. For example, an employee losing eligibility for group health coverage may be able to special enroll in a spouse's plan. A dependent losing eligibility for group health coverage may be able to enroll in a different parent's group health plan. To have a special enrollment opportunity, you or your dependent must have had other health coverage when you previously declined coverage in the plan in which you now want to enroll. To special enroll, you or your dependent must request special enrollment within 30 days of the loss of other coverage.

If you or your dependent chooses to elect COBRA continuation coverage instead of special enrollment, you will have another opportunity to request special enrollment in another group health plan once you have exhausted your continuation coverage. In order to exhaust COBRA continuation coverage, you or your dependent must receive the maximum period of continuation coverage available without early termination. You must request special enrollment within 30 days of the loss of continuation coverage.

In addition, individuals in a family may be eligible for health insurance coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). For more information, visit insurekidsnow.gov or call 1-877-KIDS-NOW (1-877-543-7669).

If you have limited income and resources (assets), you may want to contact your state to determine if you are eligible for Medicaid or other programs that may assist you in obtaining assistance with health coverage."

In order to be entitled to elect COBRA continuation coverage, your group health plan must be covered by COBRA; aqualifying event must occur; and you must be a qualified beneficiary for that event.

Plan Coverage - COBRA covers group health plans sponsored by employers with 20 or more employees on more than 50 percent of its typical business days in the previous calendar year. Both full and part-time employees are counted to determine whether a plan is subject to COBRA. Each part-time employee counts as a fraction of a full time employee, with the fraction equal to the number of hours that the part-time employee worked divided by the hours an employee must work to be considered full time.

Qualifying Events - Qualifying events are events that cause an individual to lose group health coverage. The type of qualifying event determines who the qualified beneficiaries are and the period of time that a plan must offer continuation coverage. A plan, at its discretion, may choose to provide longer periods of continuation coverage.

Qualifying Events for Covered Employees:

• Termination of employment for any reason other than gross misconduct
• Reduction in the number of hours of employment

Qualifying Events for Spouses:

• Termination of the covered employees employment for any reason other than gross misconduct
• Reduction in the hours worked by the covered employee
• Covered employees becoming entitled to Medicare in certain circumstances
• Divorce or legal separation of the spouse from the covered employee
• Death of the covered employee

Qualifying Events for Dependent Children:

• Loss of dependent child status under the plan rules
• Termination of the covered employees employment for any reason other than gross misconduct
• Reduction in the hours worked by the covered employee
• Covered employees becoming entitled to Medicare in certain circumstances
• Divorce or legal separation of the spouse from the covered employee
• Death of the covered employee

Qualified Beneficiaries - A qualified beneficiary is an individual covered by a group health plan on the day before a qualifying event occurred that cause him or her to lose coverage. A qualified beneficiary must be a covered employee, the employee's spouse or former spouse, or the employee's dependent child. In certain cases involving the bankruptcy of the employer sponsoring the plan, a retired employee, the retired employee's spouse or former spouse, and the retired employee's dependent children may be qualified beneficiaries. In addition, any child born to or placed for adoption with a covered employee during the period of COBRA coverage is automatically considered a qualified beneficiary. Agents, independent contractors, and directors who participate in the group health plan may also be qualified beneficiaries."

To be eligible for COBRA coverage, you must have been enrolled in your employer's health plan when you worked and the health plan must continue to be in effect for active employees. COBRA continuation coverage is available upon the occurrence of a qualifying event that would, except for the COBRA continuation coverage, cause an individual to lose his or her health care coverage.

Group health plans must provide covered employees and their families with certain notices explaining their COBRA rights. Your COBRA rights must be described in the plan's benefit booklet, which you should receive within 90 days after you first become a participant in the plan. In addition, group health plans must give each employee and spouse who becomes covered under the plan a general notice describing COBRA rights, also provided within the first 90 days of coverage.

Before a group health plan must offer continuation coverage, a qualifying event must occur, and the plan must be notified of the qualifying event. The employer must notify the plan if the qualifying event is the covered employee's termination or reduction of hours of employment, death, entitlement to Medicare, or bankruptcy of the employer. The employer has 30 days after the event to provide this notice to the plan.

You (the employee or one of the qualified beneficiaries) must notify the plan if the qualifying event is divorce, legal separation, or a child's loss of dependent status under the plan. The plan can set a time limit for providing this notice, but it cannot be shorter than 60 days from the latest of: the date of the qualifying event; the date on which you would lose coverage due to the qualifying event; or the date on which you are informed of your responsibility to notify the plan and procedures for doing so.

When the plan receives a notice of a qualifying event, it must give the qualified beneficiaries an election notice which describes their rights to continuation coverage and how to make an election. This notice must be provided within 14 days after the plan receives notice of the qualifying event."

If you become entitled to elect COBRA coverage, you must be given an election period of at least 60 days (starting on the later of the date you are furnished the election notice or the date you would lose coverage) to choose whether or not to elect continuation coverage.

Each of the qualified beneficiaries may independently elect COBRA coverage. This means that if both you and your spouse are entitled to elect continuation coverage, you each may decide separately whether to do so. The covered employee or spouse must be allowed to elect on behalf of any dependent children or on behalf of all of the qualified beneficiaries. A parent or legal guardian may elect on behalf of a minor child.

If you waive COBRA coverage during the election period, you must be permitted later to revoke your waiver of coverage and to elect continuation coverage as long as you do so during the election period. Then, the plan need only provide continuation coverage beginning on the date you revoke the waiver.

If you elect continuation coverage, the coverage you are given must be identical to the coverage currently available under the plan to similarly situated active employees and their families. You will also be entitled to the same benefits, choices, and services that a similarly situated participant or beneficiary is currently receiving under the plan, such as the right during open enrollment season to choose among available coverage options. You will also be subject to the same rules that would apply to a similarly situated participant or beneficiary, such as co-payment requirements and deductibles. Any change made to the plan's terms that apply to similarly situated active employees and their families will also apply to qualified beneficiaries receiving COBRA continuation coverage.

COBRA requires that continuation coverage extend from the date of the qualifying event for a limited period of 18 or 36 months. The length of time depends on the type of qualifying event that gave rise to the COBRA rights. A plan, however, may provide longer periods of coverage beyond the maximum period required by law.

When the qualifying event is the covered employee's termination of employment or reduction in hours of employment, qualified beneficiaries are entitled to a maximum of 18 months of continuation coverage.

When the qualifying event is the end of employment or reduction of the employee's hours, and the employee became entitled to Medicare less than 18 months before the qualifying event, COBRA coverage for the employee's spouse and dependents can last until 36 months after the date the employee becomes entitled to Medicare. For example, if a covered employee becomes entitled to Medicare 8 months before the date his/her employment ends (termination of employment is the COBRA qualifying event), COBRA coverage for his/her spouse and children would last 28 months (36 months minus 8 months). For more information on how entitlement to Medicare impacts the length of COBRA coverage, contact a benefits advisor at askebsa.dol.gov or by calling 1-866-444-3272.

For other qualifying events, qualified beneficiaries are generally entitled to a maximum of 36 months of continuation coverage.

A group health plan may cancel coverage earlier than the end of the maximum period for any of the following reasons:

• Premiums are not paid in full on a timely basis
• The employer ceases to maintain any group health plan
• A qualified beneficiary begins coverage under another employer group health plan after electing continuation coverage as long as that plan doesnt impose an exclusion or limitation affecting a preexisting condition of the qualified beneficiary
• A qualified beneficiary becomes entitled to Medicare benefits after electing continuation coverage or
• A qualified beneficiary engages in conduct that would justify the plan in terminating coverage of a similarly situated participant or beneficiary not receiving continuation coverage such as fraud.

If continuation coverage iscancelcancelled early, the plan must provide the qualified beneficiary with an early termination notice. The notice must be given as soon as practicable after the decision is made, and it must describe the date coverage will endcancel, the reason for cancelling, and any rights the qualified beneficiary may have under the plan or applicable law to elect alternative group or individual coverage.

If you are entitled to an 18 month maximum period of continuation coverage, you may become eligible for an extension of the maximum time period in two circumstances. The first is when a qualified beneficiary is disabled; the second is when a second qualifying event occurs.

Disability - If any one of the qualified beneficiaries in your family is disabled and meets certain requirements, all of the qualified beneficiaries receiving continuation coverage due to a single qualifying event are entitled to an 11-month extension of the maximum period of continuation coverage (for a total maximum period of 29 months of continuation coverage). The plan can charge qualified beneficiaries an increased premium, up to 150 percent of the cost of coverage, during the 11-month disability extension. However, Florida Blue premiums will remain at 102%.

The requirements are:
1. that the disabled qualified beneficiary must be determined by the Social Security Administration SSA to be disabled at some time before the 60th day of continuation coverage and
2. that the disability must continue during the rest of the 18-month period of continuation coverage.

The disabled qualified beneficiary or another person on his or her behalf must also notify the plan of the SSA determination. The plan can set a time limit for providing this notice of disability, but the time limit cannot be shorter than 60 days, starting from the latest of: (1) the date on which SSA issues the disability determination; (2) the date on which the qualifying event occurs; (3) the date on which the qualified beneficiary loses (or would lose) coverage under the plan as a result of the qualifying event; or (4) the date on which the qualified beneficiary is informed, through the furnishing of the SPD or the COBRA general notice, of the responsibility to notify the plan and the procedures for doing so.

The right to the disability extension may cancelend if the SSA determines that the disabled qualified beneficiary is no longer disabled. The plan can require qualified beneficiaries receiving the disability extension to notify it if the SSA makes such a determination, although the plan must give the qualified beneficiaries at least 30 days after the SSA determination to do so.

The rules for how to give a disability notice and a notice of no longer being disabled should be described in the plan's SPD (and in the election notice if you are offered an 18-month maximum period of continuation coverage).

Second Qualifying Event - If you are receiving an 18-month maximum period of continuation coverage, you may become entitled to an 18-month extension (giving a total maximum period of 36 months of continuation coverage) if you experience a second qualifying event that is the death of a covered employee, the divorce or legal separation of a covered employee and spouse, a covered employee's becoming entitled to Medicare, or a loss of dependent child status under the plan. The second event can be a second qualifying event only if it would have caused you to lose coverage under the plan in the absence of the first qualifying event. If a second qualifying event occurs, you will need to notify the plan.

The rules for how to give notice of a second qualifying event should be described in the plan's SPD (and in the election notice if you are offered an 18-month maximum period of continuation coverage). The plan can set a time limit for providing this notice, but the time limit cannot be shorter than 60 days from the latest of: (1) the date on which the qualifying event occurs; (2) the date on which you lose (or would lose) coverage under the plan as a result of the qualifying event; or (3) the date on which you are informed, through the furnishing of either the SPD or the COBRA general notice, of the responsibility to notify the plan and the procedures for doing so."

Under COBRA, participants, covered spouses and dependent children may continue their plan coverage for a limited time when they would otherwise lose coverage due to a particular event, such as divorce (or legal separation). A covered employee's spouse who would lose coverage due to a divorce may elect continuation coverage under the plan for a maximum of 36 months. A qualified beneficiary must notify the plan administrator of a qualifying event within 60 days after divorce or legal separation. After being notified of a divorce, the plan administrator must give notice, generally within 14 days, to the qualified beneficiary of the right to elect COBRA continuation coverage.

Your group health plan can require you to pay for COBRA continuation coverage. The amount charged to qualified beneficiaries cannot exceed 102 percent of the cost to the plan for similarly situated individuals covered under the plan who have not incurred a qualifying event. In determining COBRA premiums, the plan can include the costs paid by employees and the employer, plus an additional 2 percent for administrative costs.

For qualified beneficiaries receiving the 11-month disability extension, the COBRA premium for those additional months may be increased to 150 percent of the plan's total cost of coverage for similarly situated individuals. However, Florida Blue premiums will remain at 102%.

COBRA charges to qualified beneficiaries may be increased if the cost to the plan increases but generally must be fixed in advance of each 12-month premium cycle. The plan must allow you to pay the required premiums on a monthly basis if you ask to do so, and the plan may allow you to make payments at other intervals (for example, weekly or quarterly). The election notice should contain all of the information you need to understand the COBRA premiums you will have to pay, when they are due, and the consequences of late payment or nonpayment.

When you elect continuation coverage, you cannot be required to send any payment with your election form. You can be required, however, to make an initial premium payment within 45 days after the date of your COBRA election (that is the date you mail in your election form, if you use first-class mail). Failure to make any payment within that period of time could cause you to lose all COBRA rights. The plan can set premium due dates for successive periods of coverage (after your initial payment), but it must give you the option to make monthly payments, and it must give you a 30-day grace period for payment of any premium.

You should be aware that if you do not pay a premium by the first day of a period of coverage, but pay the premium within the grace period for that period of coverage, the plan has the option to cancel your coverage until payment is received and then reinstate the coverage retroactively back to the beginning of the period of coverage. Failure to make payment in full before the end of a grace period could cause you to lose all COBRA rights.

If the amount of a payment made to the plan is wrong, but is not significantly less than the amount due, the plan is required to notify you of the deficiency and grant a reasonable period (for this purpose, 30 days is considered reasonable) to pay the difference. The plan is not obligated to send monthly premium notices."

You may want to contact your plan and ask if they will reinstate your coverage; however, if your coverage was cancelledcanceld for not making the payment within the grace period, the plan is not required to reinstate your coverage. If you believe your coverage was canceled inappropriately, you can contact an EBSA benefits advisor electronically at askebsa.dol.gov or call 1-866-444-3272 for assistance.

Health plan rules must explain how to obtain benefits and must include written procedures for processing claims. You should submit a claim for benefits in accordance with these rules. Claims procedures are described in your benefit booklet or you may contact Florida Blue for more information.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires an employer to maintain coverage under any group health plan for an employee on FMLA leave under the same conditions coverage would have been provided if the employee had continued working. Coverage provided under the FMLA is not COBRA coverage, and taking FMLA leave is not a qualifying event under COBRA. A COBRA qualifying event may occur, however, when an employer's obligation to maintain health benefits under FMLA ceases, such as when an employee taking FMLA leave decides not to return to work and notifies an employer of his or her intent not to return to work. Further information on the FMLA is available from the nearest office of the Wage and Hour Division, listed in most telephone directories under U.S. Government, U.S. Department of Labor or on the Wage and Hour Division's Web page

If there is no longer a health plan, there is no COBRA coverage available. If, however, there is another plan offered by the company, you may be covered under that plan. Union members who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides for a medical plan also may be entitled to continued coverage.

Federal employees are covered by a law similar to COBRA. Those employees should contact the personnel office serving their agency for more information on temporary extensions of health benefits.

• Florida Blue Customer Service
  Please have your member ID number available and call us weekdays:
  • COBRA Enrollment and Billing: 1-855-509-1678
  • Benefits and Claims: 1-800-352-2583
• Health insurance options
  • Florida Blue: FloridaBlue.com or 1-800-876-2227
  • Your local agent or sales representative
  • Health Insurance Marketplace: HealthCare.gov or 1-800-318-2596

COBRA continuation coverage laws are administered by several agencies. The Departments of Labor and Treasury have jurisdiction over private-sector group health plans. The Department of Health and Human Services administers the continuation coverage law as it affects public-sector health plans.

The Labor Department's interpretive responsibility is limited to the disclosure and notification requirements of COBRA. If you need further information on your rights under a private-sector plan, or about ERISA generally, contact the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) electronically at askebsa.dol.gov or call toll free 1-866-444-3272.

The Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, has issued regulations on COBRA provisions relating to eligibility, coverage and payment. Both the Departments of Labor and Treasury share jurisdiction for enforcement of these provisions.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offer information about COBRA provisions for public-sector employees. You can write them at this address:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
7500 Security Boulevard
Mail Stop C1-22-06
Baltimore, MD 21244-1850
Tel 1-877-267-2323 x 61565