COBRA (The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended)
COBRA requires certain employers and employee organizations that provide health coverage (medical/Rx/dental/vision) to employees/members and their dependents to provide an option to continue health coverage on a self-paying basis for a certain amount of time. This law protects covered employees and their dependents from losing their group health coverage due to certain life changing events. It generally impacts employers that have twenty or more employees but it can also apply to employers with fewer than twenty employees if the employer is part of a controlled group with a combined employee total of at least twenty employees.
 
    COBRA notices
    The COBRA statute and regulations require group health plans to provide several written notices to covered employees and their covered spouses at different times. The Department of Labor has provided models of the two major notices that are required: the initial COBRA general notice and the COBRA election notice.
    The “model general notice” – as provided on the DOL website, to be provided when coverage first begins under the plan
    modelgeneralnotice COBRA.doc
    OR, customize this version for your plan needs:
    COBRA_initial_Notice_102704 from web.doc

    The “model election notice” – from the DOL website, to be provided when a qualifying event occurs
    modelelectionnotice COBRA.doc
    OR, customize this version for your plan
    COBRA_Election_Notice from web.doc

In addition to the "general" notice and the "election" notice, there are two other notices that a plan administrator must provide in certain situations. Click on the links below for samples that you can customize for your specific situation.

    a notice that COBRA coverage is unavailable
    a notice that COBRA coverage has (or will) terminate before the maximum time period outlined in the law.
The two notices as well as additional information on COBRA can also be found on the Department of Labor website:
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/compliance_assistance.html - section2

Other useful Department of Labor web site links:

COBRA Fact Sheet
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fscobra.html

Several topics including COBRA FAQs and Health Plans under COBRA
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm

Publication: Employer’s Guide to COBRA
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/cobraemployer.pdf
Back