NEW COBRA COVERAGE RULES IMPOSE ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE  BURDENS ON EMPLOYERS

 The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”) requires employers who employ twenty or more employees to allow terminated employees to elect continuation coverage.  The coverage will continue for eighteen months after termination, but the terminated employee can continue the coverage under certain circumstances.  COBRA requires employers to provide notice to employees that the coverage exists, and notice upon termination of the availability of the coverage.  Previously, employers could charge the terminated employee 102% of the premium for COBRA coverage. As a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the “Act”), employers may now be required to help terminated employees defray the cost of healthcare. 

Imagine you are out alone on your bicycle early on a beautiful Spring day, riding your regular exercise route along a narrow, country road.  There are few cars and you are enjoying the day and the ride. The next thing you know, you are waking up in terrible pain in the emergency room.  That’s what happened to our client, an office manager and avid runner and bicyclist in her mid-40s.   The identity of the striking driver was never established, even after an appeal on the local television news.