President Obama Dec. 19 signed legislation extending the COBRA premium subsidy for an additional six months, prolonging the premium subsidy period to a total of 15 months. Previously the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided a temporary subsidy for the cost of COBRA continuation health coverage for only nine months.
The eligibility period has been extended through Feb. 28 for those who qualify for COBRA because of an involuntary termination. However, employees and employers should keep in mind that the COBRA premium subsidy does not affect the length of COBRA coverage itself.
Eligible individuals who have allowed their COBRA coverage to lapse on or after Oct. 31, 2009 may be reinstated with retroactive payment.
For more information about how this affects employers, click here or contact Vicki Tedder at ABC,
tedder@abc.org.