Over the weekend, Congress approved of a measure that I reported on last week that will extend COBRA for a few more months.
The President is expected to sign the measure and no doubt the DOL will be updating its website with new information.
Thus, employers should continue to keep tabs on this development as it will affect those who have been laid off this month and will be eligible for COBRA starting 1/1/10.
(H/T Workforce)
Over the weekend, the Senate passed a defense spending bill that included -- among many other things -- an extension of the COBRA premium subsidy provision that's about to expire. (You can find the entire bill at the website of the Library of Congress; search for the bill number, H.R. 3326, then skip ahead to Section 1010). The House already passed the bill, and it's been sent to the President for signing.
Currently, the COBRA subsidy allows those who are involuntarily terminated from September 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009 to receive a subsidy of 65% of their COBRA premium payments for up to nine months. The subsidy went into effect on March 1, 2009, which means ...
Late Thursday night, President Obama signed a measure that extends the COBRA premium subsidy for another two months -- to May 31, 2010.
The subsidy had expired on March 31, 2010 when Congress failed to act on this measure before its recess. However, yesterday, Congress approved a bill that covers all those who have been laid off between April 1-April 15th (that would not have been eligible) and those who may be laid off through May 31, 2010.
We've heard a lot in the past week about President Obama's proposed budget, unveiled in conjunction with his State of the Union speech last week. Topic number one seems to be how the budget plan would affect the national deficit. Apparently of quite a bit less interest, judging by the limited press it's received, is the proposal to extend the COBRA subsidy through 2010.
It's been reported that the budget proposal would make the subsidy available to those who are involuntarily terminated from March 1, 2010, through the end of the year. These folks would be eligible for up to 12 months of subsidized health care continuation (employees who are involuntarily terminated u...
This week, both the Hartford Courant and the Hartford Business Journal, have run lengthy articles suggesting that the COBRA subsidy -- which went into effect in February of this year -- is coming to end for most workers.
Unfortunately, the articles miss the big picture of the law and, in doing so, add to the confusion surrounding the law.
So, let's take a moment to understand the context.
Late Tuesday night, the Senate approved and the President signed a bill that , among other things, extends the COBRA subsidy (that had expired on February 28, 2010) to March 31, 2010 and applies that extension retroactively. That means that any terminations on Monday and Tuesday this week that would have been subject to the COBRA subsidy (but for the expiration of the prior law) may need to be revisited.
The bill (H.R. 4691) also extends unemployment benefit eligibility as well.
Besides extending the time for eligibility for the COBRA subsidy, the bill also has a number of othe...
