The following information is from the United States Department of Labor’s web site. Since this COBRA article (or booklet, as the article refers to it) from dol.gov has an abundance of information, we will break the article up into sections over the next several weeks. We hope that you find the information valuable.

An Employee’s Guide to Health Benefits Under COBRA – The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act

Note: This publication contains information about the COBRA premium reduction provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This publication has not been updated for recent amendments made to ARRA. For updated information on ARRA and its amendments, please see the COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet.

Your COBRA Rights and Responsibilities:
Notice and Election Procedures

Under COBRA, group health plans must provide covered employees and their families with certain notices explaining their COBRA rights. They must also have rules for how COBRA continuation coverage is offered, how qualified beneficiaries may elect continuation coverage, and when it can be terminated.

Notice Procedures

Summary Plan Description

The COBRA rights provided under the plan must be described in the plan’s summary plan description (SPD). The SPD is a written document that gives important information about the plan, including what benefits are available under the plan, the rights of participants and beneficiaries under the plan, and how the plan works. ERISA requires group health plans to give you an SPD within 90 days after you first become a participant in a plan (or within 120 days after the plan is first subject to the reporting and disclosure provisions of ERISA). In addition, if there are material changes to the plan, the plan must give you a summary of material modifications (SMM) not later than 210 days after the end of the plan year in which the changes become effective; if the change is a material reduction in covered services or benefits, the SMM must be furnished not later than 60 days after the reduction is adopted. A participant or beneficiary covered under the plan may request a copy of the SPD and any SMMs (as well as any other plan documents), which must be provided within 30 days of a written request.

COBRA General Notice

Group health plans must give each employee and each spouse who becomes covered under the plan a general notice describing COBRA rights. The general notice must be provided within the first 90 days of coverage. Group health plans can satisfy this requirement by giving you the plan’s SPD within this time period, as long as it contains the general notice information. The general notice should contain the information that you need to know in order to protect your COBRA rights when you first become covered under the plan, including the name of the plan and someone you can contact for more information, a general description of the continuation coverage provided under the plan, and an explanation of any notices you must give the plan to protect your COBRA rights.

COBRA Qualifying Event Notices

Before a group health plan must offer continuation coverage, a qualifying event must occur, and the group health plan must be notified of the qualifying event. Who must give notice of the qualifying event depends on the type of qualifying event.

The employer must notify the plan if the qualifying event is:

  • Termination or reduction in hours of employment of the covered employee;
  • Death of the covered employee;
  • Covered employee’s becoming entitled to Medicare; or
  • Bankruptcy of the employer.

The employer has 30 days after the event occurs to provide notice to the plan.

You (the covered employee or one of the qualified beneficiaries) must notify the plan if the qualifying event is:

  • Divorce;
  • Legal separation; or
  • A child’s loss of dependent status under the plan.

You should understand your plan’s rules for how to provide notice if one of these qualifying events occurs. The plan must have procedures for how to give notice of the qualifying event, and the procedures should be described in both the general notice and the plan’s SPD. The plan can set a time limit for providing this notice, but the time limit cannot be shorter than 60 days, starting from the latest of: (1) the date on which the qualifying event occurs; (2) the date on which you lose (or would lose) coverage under the plan as a result of the qualifying event; or (3) the date on which you are informed, through the furnishing of either the SPD or the COBRA general notice, of the responsibility to notify the plan and the procedures for doing so.

If your plan does not have reasonable procedures for how to give notice of a qualifying event, you can give notice by contacting the person or unit that handles your employer’s employee benefits matters. If your plan is a multiemployer plan, notice can also be given to the joint board of trustees, and, if the plan is administered by an insurance company (or the benefits are provided through insurance), notice can be given to the insurance company.

COBRA Election Notice

When the plan receives a notice of a qualifying event, the plan must give the qualified beneficiaries an election notice, which describes their rights to continuation coverage and how to make an election. The notice must be provided to the qualified beneficiaries within 14 days after the plan administrator receives the notice of a qualifying event. The election notice should contain all of the information you will need to understand continuation coverage and make an informed decision whether or not to elect continuation coverage. It should also give you the name of the plan’s COBRA administrator and tell you how to get more information.

COBRA Notice of Unavailability of Continuation Coverage

Group health plans may sometimes deny a request for continuation coverage or for an extension of continuation coverage. If you or any member of your family requests continuation coverage and the plan determines that you or your family member is not entitled to the requested continuation coverage for any reason, the plan must give the person who requested it a notice of unavailability of continuation coverage. The notice must be provided within 14 days after the request is received, and the notice must explain the reason for denying the request.

COBRA Notice of Early Termination of Continuation Coverage

Continuation coverage must generally be made available for a maximum period (18, 29, or 36 months). The group health plan may terminate continuation coverage earlier, however, for any number of specific reasons. (See “Duration of Continuation Coverage” later in this booklet). When a group health plan decides to terminate continuation coverage early for any of these reasons, the plan must give the qualified beneficiary a notice of early termination. The notice must be given as soon as practicable after the decision is made, and it must describe the date coverage will terminate, the reason for termination, and any rights the qualified beneficiary may have under the plan or applicable law to elect alternative group or individual coverage, such as a right to convert to an individual policy.

Special Rules for Multiemployer Plans

Multiemployer plans are allowed to adopt some special rules for COBRA notices. First, a multiemployer plan may adopt its own uniform time limits for the qualifying event notice or the election notice. A multiemployer plan also may choose not to require employers to provide qualifying event notices, and instead to have the plan administrator determine when a qualifying event has occurred. Any special multiemployer plan rules must be set out in the plan’s documents (and SPD).

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