COBRA refers to the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act, an act which specifically offers health insurance coverage options for people who are in the process of changing jobs or who have recently lost their jobs. COBRA insurance is a temporary option that may be helpful and convenient to people who are experiencing this specific set of circumstances. In some cases, however, people are unable to receive COBRA insurance because they do not receive a COBRA notice from their employer or their employer has sent an incomplete COBRA notice.
If you did not receive a COBRA notice or your COBRA notice was incomplete, then you may be eligible to join a lawsuit investigation. The following information will help you understand whether or not you should pursue COBRA insurance and what to do if you did not receive your COBRA insurance form.
COBRA Insurance Coverage
COBRA insurance coverage is intended for people who no longer have their employer-based health insurance due to changing jobs or recently leaving their job. In order to qualify for COBRA insurance, an individual must meet specific requirements, which include:
The individual must have been employed in a state or government job OR a private-sector company with at least 20 hired employees
The individual must have lost their employer insurance due to being laid off, being fired for anything except gross misconduct, quitting their job, losing insurance due to being given less hours, or losing insurance due to divorce or death of a spouse with dual-person employer insurance.
COBRA insurance is intended to be a temporary insurance policy, as it can only cover someone for a maximum of 18 months.
Benefit and Disadvantage of COBRA
The primary benefit of receiving COBRA coverage is that it allows you to bridge the gap between losing your employer based health insurance and getting new health insurance from a new employer or through the Marketplace. However, this benefit does come with a notable downside: COBRA insurance premiums are very expensive and can be close to 4 times as much as the previously held employer health insurance.
Signing Up for COBRA
If you believe you are eligible to receive COBRA insurance, then your employer will need to send you a COBRA notice; a COBRA notice is essential paperwork that allows you to apply for COBRA. This COBRA notice must be sent within 30 days of your last day of work, and you have 60 days from your last day of work in order to sign up for COBRA.
COBRA Notice Investigations
A COBRA notice is essential for people who want to sign up for COBRA. However, sometimes employers do not send out a COBRA claim form or they send it out too late for the person to sign up for the program; in other cases, employers may send information that is incomplete, so the previously employed individual is not informed about their rights to sign up for COBRA.
If you believe you did not receive a COBRA notice from your employer or you received incomplete COBRA insurance-notice information, you may be eligible to join a lawsuit investigation that will help you receive compensation.
For more information, please contact the attorneys at Shamis & Gentile, P.A.
