What is COBRA and what does COBRA mean? COBRA was passed in 1985. COBRA amended the public health service act. It is a federal law that helps to ensure those who lose their health insurance coverage due to life events, such as losing a job, can continue to receive their coverage for a pre-determined amount of time. What does COBRA stand for? It stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
More About COBRA
What is the COBRA insurance meaning? With COBRA, you are guaranteed the right to continue your health coverage insurance for up to 18 months from your final day of employment. You will be covered when leaving or being terminated from your position in most cases, except those that are considered gross misconduct. What is important to know about the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliations Act (COBRA) coverage is that, although you are usually entitled to continue your previous health coverage, you must pay for it out of your own pocket. There will be no employer contributions if you had benefited from such while employed. For this reason, COBRA health insurance can be very costly. It’s not unusual for families or individuals to opt out of coverage due to its prohibitive cost.
If you are able to afford the costs of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) health insurance, your family members may be eligible for up to 36 months of coverage under the program. It’s important to note that you cannot get COBRA individual health coverage plans outside of your employer’s group health coverage or sponsored health insurance. If you are used to have group health benefits from group health plans, this can feel somewhat overwhelming.
COBRA Provision
When you undergo a qualifying life event such as leaving your employer or being terminated, you want to be sure to see your company’s HR department or health benefits specialist in order to ensure you qualify for COBRA. Usually, you only have from between 30 and 60 days to do so, depending on your situation. As soon as HR is notified of your loss of employment, they are required to let you know about your coverage options under COBRA. You can decide whether to enroll each qualified beneficiary or not, depending on your needs and budget. At this meeting, you should also be able to take care of arranging payments for continued coverage.
While coverage can be extended to the employee for 18 months and dependents for up to 36 months depending on individual situations, there are events that can lead to coverage being discontinued. If the employer no longer offers group health plan coverage to its employees, COBRA will cease also. Likewise, should the company close or go out of business, you will no longer be covered under COBRA. If you neglect to pay your premiums or get coverage from a new job, you will lose your coverage. In addition, if you qualify for Medicare, COBRA will not cover you.
Conclusion
Now that you can define COBRA, whether to enroll in COBRA is a decision that only you can make. If you have questions about COBRA, HR might be able to help answer them. It might be a good idea to consider it at least temporarily while you look into other options. This way, you won’t find yourself and your family going without health coverage, which can be even more costly than the COBRA premiums. What does COBRA mean? It is a temporary way to continue receiving the same coverage in health benefits you enjoyed while employed should a life event cause you to lose coverage.
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