Its an early COBRABusters Christmas Gift From Congress!
<Updated 12/22/09: The US Senate approved and the President signed into law today the COBRA subsidy Extension as part of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill.> The US House of Representatives today passed a surprise early Christmas gift for job seekers, passing a bill extending the COBRA Subsidy eligibility period for two months, and they extended the maximum COBRA Subsidy period from from nine months to 15 months. The new COBRA Subsidy... [Read More...]
COBRA Subsidy Extension: Congressional Xmas Gift or Xmas Trap?
Will Congress pass an early Christmas gift for the 10+ percent of the country who are presently unemployed by extending the COBRA subsidy? While a COBRA subsidy extension remains uncertain, the healthcare Washington watchers that I follow now believe that Congress will eventually extend the law that subsidizes COBRA health care premiums for assistance-eligible employees. Will an extension be passed by Congress and signed into law by Christmas? ... [Read More...]
Frost: Extending COBRA Subsidy Likely Rests on Health Reform Bill Passage
Employee Benefits Advisor magazine’s Lydell Bridgford reports on 11/1/2009 that the likelihood of Congress extending the COBRA subsidy beyond Dec. 31st “all depends.” The link to trackback and read the full article in the Nov. 1 edition of Employee Benefits Advisor magaizne is listed below. Individuals and families who are hoping that Congress acts in time to keep COBRA affordable may be unnecessarily putting their families... [Read More...]
How & Where to Appeal if You’ve Been Turned Down for the ARRA COBRA Subsidy and State Continuation Subsidy
The Department of Labor have created a nifty web page where individuals can appeal if they feel they have been unfairly turned down for the ARRA COBRA and State Continuation 65% premium subsidy. You can file an online appeal directly to the Department of Labor (the fastest way), or you can fax or snail mail a written appeal if you use the DOL appeals form located here. The above webpage also gives some great guidance to help individuals to... [Read More...]
New Texas State Continuation Subsidy Bill Will Likely Help but a Few Unemployed Texans.
Under a new Texas law, if you were involuntarily terminated on or after September 1, 2008 from a small Texas business with less than 20 full-time employees, you might soon have have a special, “limited special enrollment opportunity” to elect State Continuation coverage and apply for the 65% ARRA insurance premium subsidy. This will apply only to those Texans who: (1) did not elect State Continuation or who lost State Continuation... [Read More...]
IRS Publishes 58 new COBRA Subsidy FAQs
You really gotta love the federal government for trying to “clarify” what they intended with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The IRS has posted 58 new FAQs on their website that hopefully will clarify earlier clarifications. Here’s the link to the information: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-09-27.pdf Mike Chapman Read More →
Department of Labor COBRA Website, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The Department of Labor is required to issue guidelines the week of March 16th on how employers, insurance carriers and COBRA administrators should implement the COBRA subsidy for involuntarily terminated employees. From what I’ve read, this is not going to be easy on employers, and there are specific guidelines that must be followed for employers to locate, contact, and advise terminated employees of their right to apply for COBRA and... [Read More...]
Listen to replay of COBRA and Economic REcovery Act of 2009
Here’s the information to listen to the March 25th recording of the Telseminar on the COBRA subsidy contained in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2009. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get a clean quality mp3 of this teleseminar, but you can listen to the replay by calling 712-432-1080, and then entering the listener access code 688338#. If anyone reading this post is able to convert this recording into a quality mp3 recording, I’ll... [Read More...]
Teleseminar for Employers re: Economic Stimulus Recovery Act and COBRA
I’m holding a teleseminar for employers and HR Professionals only on February 25, from 2 to 3 pm to discuss the impact of the Economic Stimulus Recovery ACT on employers. Employers and HR professionals can get the details for this teleseminar by signing up for the COBRABusters.com newsletter at right. Employers are now required by law to subsidize COBRA and State of Texas Continuation payments by 65% for any employees and their dependents... [Read More...]
Teleseminar Details to Discuss Impact on Job Seekers of the Economic Stimulus Act
I’m conducting teleseminars in the evening on Tuesday Feb. 24 and Wednesday Feb. 25 to discuss the impact of the Economic Stimulus and Recovery Act upon job seekers. We will discuss the COBRA subsidy and the favorable tax treatment of unemployment benefits that are part of this law. Sign up for the COBRABusters.com newsletter to get the teleseminar details. Each Teleseminar will hold 100 people, but cach call will be recorded and posted... [Read More...]
