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 State Continuation at the subsidized rates. And there will be quite a bit of paperwork for employers to complete in order to be reimbursed for the subsidy. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if the guidelines get delayed or if only partial guidelines get issued next week, with more details promised later.
The Department of Labor has a webpage here where they will post updates and guidances on the COBRA subsidy implementation. Right now, every article and HR/legal expert is referring and quoting this DOL source, so check it out. As soon as the DOL guidelines are published at this site, I’ll try to boil it down into something that terminated employees and employers can understand.
Mike, you were going to confirm if it is true that the subsidy is not available to people that have spouses with plans through their employers. I gather that the regulations were not posted today, but I really don’t want to miss this question being answered. It would sure be great if I can qualify for the subsidy as my husband’s regular plan is much worse than the one I left and cost almost the same.
Thanks for all the info today at Career Connections