Beneficiaries may be required to pay for COBRA coverage. The premium cannot exceed 102 percent of the cost to the plan for similarly situated individuals who have not incurred a qualifying event, including both the portion paid by employees and any portion paid by the employer before the qualifying event, plus 2 percent for administrative costs.

Congress passed the landmark Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) health benefit provisions in 1986. The law amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Internal Revenue Code and the Public Health Service Act to provide continuation of group health coverage that otherwise might be terminated.

COBRA coverage begins on the date that health care coverage would otherwise have been lost by reason of a qualifying event.

COBRA establishes required periods of coverage for continuation health benefits. A plan, however, may provide longer periods of coverage beyond those required by COBRA. COBRA beneficiaries generally are eligible for group coverage during a maximum of 18 months for qualifying events due to employment termination or reduction of hours of work.

Employers or health plan administrators must provide an initial general notice if you are entitled to COBRA benefits. You probably received the initial notice about COBRA coverage when you were hired. When you are no longer eligible for health coverage, your employer has to provide you with a specific notice regarding your rights to COBRA continuation benefits.

Materials should be sent to you after you leave the university. Please contact Benefits at 386-822-7058.

If a qualified beneficiary waives COBRA coverage during the election period, he or she may revoke the waiver of coverage before the end of the election period. A beneficiary may then elect COBRA coverage. Then, the plan need only provide continuation coverage beginning on the date the waiver is revoked.

Yes. Under HIPAA any period of time that you are receiving COBRA continuation coverage is counted as previous health coverage as long as the coverage occurred without a break in coverage of 63 days or more. For example, if you were covered continuously for 5 months by a previous health plan and then received 7 months of COBRA continuation coverage, you would be entitled to receive credit for 12 months of coverage by your new group health plan. Not if you enroll when you are first eligible.

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.

Qualified beneficiaries must be given an election period during which each qualified beneficiary may choose whether to elect COBRA coverage. Each qualified beneficiary may independently elect COBRA coverage. A covered employee or the covered employee's spouse may elect COBRA coverage on behalf of all other qualified beneficiaries. A parent or legal guardian may elect on behalf of a minor child. Qualified beneficiaries must be given at least 60 days for the election.

A plan may not require any payment until 45 days after the qualified beneficiary's initial election. If a qualified beneficiary fails to make the initial premium payment within the 45-day period, the plan administrator may terminate the COBRA coverage. Thereafter, payments are due on the first of each month, subject to a 30-day grace period. The provision of medical care through a cafeteria plan (as defined in Section 125) or other flexible benefit arrangement constitutes a group health plan.

Employers must notify plan administrators of a qualifying event within 30 days after an employee's death, termination, reduced hours of employment or entitlement to Medicare. A qualified beneficiary must notify the plan administrator of a qualifying event within 60 days after divorce or legal separation or a child's ceasing to be covered as a dependent under plan rules.

Yes, disability can extend the 18 month period of continuation coverage for a qualifying event that is a termination of employment or reduction of hours.

Employers with 20 or more employees are usually required to offer COBRA coverage and to notify their employees of the availability of such coverage. COBRA applies to plans maintained by private-sector employers and sponsored by most state and local governments.

COBRA requires employers to offer a COBRA election to qualified beneficiaries when there is: (1) a triggering event; and (2) the triggering event causes (or will cause) a loss in plan coverage that occurs within the maximum coverage period for that event. When both elements (1) and (2) exist, there is a COBRA "qualifying event.

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.