COBRA Premium Subsidy Extended A Third Time

COBRA Premium Subsidy Extended A Third Time After Congress

Fails To Reach Consensus On Extending Eligibility Period Through End Of 2010

On April 15, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Continuing Extension Act of 2010, which extends the COBRA premium subsidy for eligible individuals who are involuntarily terminated from employment through May 31, 2010. It also provides retroactive eligibility for individuals who lost their jobs after March 31, 2010, the expiration of the previous extension. Employers that sent basic COBRA notices that did not contain subsidy information to qualified beneficiaries who became eligible for COBRA because of a qualifying event that occurred after March 31, 2010, should send an updated notice to those individuals concerning the extended subsidy eligibility.

The Department of Labor has posted on its COBRA web page updated model notices reflecting the Continuing Extension Act of 2010. The model notices are available at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRAmodelnotice.html. The Department of Labor also has posted a revised COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet on its web site at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsCOBRApremiumreduction.html.