COBRA Rules

Gemini

I am a HR professiona in a small manufacturing group. My question is when you change medical plans and you have a former employee on the old plan under COBRA can you require them to enroll in the new medical plan under their COBRA option even when the new plan has a slight lesser benefit and would cost 2% more for the COBRA participant.

LarryC

Welcome to the forum, Gemini. Enjoy!!

A good rule of thumb for COBRA is that anything you offer to your current employees, you have to offer to COBRA people. In your case you have to offer the new plan to the COBRA people. If they don't reply, you would then enroll them in your new plan, IF THEY WERE ENROLLED IN THE OLD PLAN TO DATE. They will, in turn, accept or reject the new plan by paying their premiums or not.

You do not have to offer them the old plan because that plan no longer exists. Again, your current employees don't have that option so the COBRA people don't either.

All of the above is regardless of benefit changes or cost changes.

Another thing about COBRA: Your current employees cannot put dependents on your plan unless they enroll themselves. However, COBRA coverage can be elected by the former employee AND/OR any of his/her dependents; all, any, or none.

Hope this helps. Did you get tornadoes down there in Waseca yesterday?

ritaanz

Welcome Gemini! Larry's post is right on. Once you canceled the old plan, it ceased to exist. IF the COBRA recipient wants to stay with the old carrier they have to apply for private plan. The old carrier may not offer that type of coverage. It's the COBRA beneficiary's call.