The 65% COBRA Federal Premium Assistance has been extended once again. The last extension covered involuntary terminations through March 31, 2010. On April 15 the President signed H.R. 4851 extending several government programs including unemployment benefits. The COBRA subsidy will now cover qualified individuals who are involuntarily terminated on or before May 31, 2010.

The U.S. Department

The COBRA subsidy, originally outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and subsequently extended, covered involuntary terminations through February 28, 2010. Without another extension, employees involuntarily terminated beginning March 1 would not have been eligible to receive this COBRA premium assistance. 

Congress had been attempting to push back the extension one more month, but

The United States Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration released two new resource links on the COBRA Continuation coverage.

According to the United States Department of Labor (DOL) the FAQ and other information will be updated sometime this week. If you are interested in

Legislation enacted by Congress and signed by President Obama on December 21, 2009, extends the ARRA COBRA premium reduction eligibility for two months, from December 31, 2009 to February 28, 2010, and increases the maximum period for receiving the subsidy to a total of 15 months instead of 9 months. 

With the new changes, the law provides that the 65% premium subsidy for COBRA continuation health benefits is available to individuals who are eligible for COBRA as a result of an involuntary termination between September 1, 2008 and February 28, 2010. The law previously required that both the involuntary termination and the eligibility for COBRA coverage occur before the last effective date of the subsidy, but now only the involuntary termination need take place on or before February 28, 2010, not the COBRA eligibility.

Last month, when we posted on the duration of the COBRA ARRA subsidy, we noted that legislation was introduced to extend the deadline for eligibility as well as the duration of the subsidy. The change enacted this month was not a result of passage of the October legislation but rather changes added to the Department of Defense 2010 Appropriations Act.Continue Reading COBRA Subsidy Extended

We have posted on the 65% COBRA subsidy several times since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted.  ARRA provided for a premium subsidy for COBRA continuation health benefits to "assistance eligible individuals."  Those individuals are defined as an employee or member of his/her family who is eligible for COBRA continuation coverage:

1)      at any time between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009

2)      elects COBRA coverage, and

3)      is eligible for COBRA as a result of an involuntary termination between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. 

Some changes may be effected if the Extended COBRA Continuation Protection Act of 2009, H.R. 3930, introduced in the House of Representatives on October 26, 2009 and referred to Committees on Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means, is enacted.   Continue Reading Update on the COBRA Subsidy and When it Will End