We’ve covered many COBRA administration twists and turns through the years. As COBRA has evolved, the challenges continue to increase. Leaves of Absence (LOA) during employment has made COBRA even more complex. LOA used to be about sick time and vacation. Now it can include leaves for maternity, paternity, personal, family, childcare, medical, military, sabbatical, adoption, ADA and other reasons.
According to the CDC, marriage rates in the United States are increasing and divorce rates are decreasing. This is good news … unless you are a divorce attorney. It also has COBRA implications.
COBRA administration is anything but routine. In this article, we examine a few interesting situations that deserve the label “COBRA Curveballs.” Batter up!
Tags: COBRA compliance
SPD Requirement
Group health plans sponsored by private-sector employers are required to maintain and distribute a Summary Plan Description (SPD). The SPD requirement does not apply to governmental and church sponsored plans, although many choose to provide an SPD.
Tags: SPD, SBC, Summary Plan Description
In honor of Halloween, we’re having a little fun with the blog today. Below are three COBRA administration horror stories that just might be scarier than the ghosts and goblins knocking on your door this week.
Tags: cobra administration, COBRA notification, COBRA outsourcing, COBRA payment collection
Telemedicine is catching on. Telemedicine programs continue the integration of technology and medicine. Using a telemedicine program might allow an employee to call, send an email, send pictures via text message or even participate in a video call with a doctor to receive a medical diagnosis or advice.
We’ve all heard of ROI, but are you familiar with the new acronym – ROO? It stands for “Return on Outsourcing.” It may not be on your business radar, but it should be. Faced with fierce competition and a fickle economy, many companies are honing efficiencies to gain a competitive edge. In many cases, that means focusing on your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses … and outsourcing COBRA administration.
Every year, a large percentage of employers make a serious mistake when they change health plans. It’s not an intentional mistake – in fact, employers often don’t even realize what they’re doing until it’s too late. What is this costly mistake that leaves many an HR professional weeping with regret after the New Year? It is automatically changing COBRA administrators just because there’s a change in the health plan provider.
According to PwC's Deals mid-year review and outlook report, mergers and acquisitions in 2022 decreased by nearly 17%, but unemployment rates are still wildly low. With this kind of continuous activity, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the complexities of COBRA during mergers and acquisitions.
Tags: cobra administration, cobra conundrums, COBRA during mergers and acquisitions
Under COBRA, eligible qualified beneficiaries must be offered continued health care coverage after a qualifying event. The qualified beneficiary can then select either to refuse continued coverage or to enroll in continued coverage. Sometimes, however, such a decision is not possible because the qualified beneficiary is incapacitated. When that happens, the employer must ensure that requirements for COBRA notices and election periods are still met.
