Home / Help Center / Continuing Your Medical Coverage with COBRA
Print Share

Continuing Your Medical Coverage with COBRA

Important Updates

  1. (IRS) posted to the Federal Register, "Extension of Certain Timeframes for Employee Benefit Plans, Participants, and Beneficiaries Affected by the COVID–19 Outbreak." HMSA will adhere to the appropriate timeframe extensions related to COBRA, for those specific situations, until no longer applicable. The parameters of the COBRA law currently remain unchanged. For more information, visit the Help Center.

June 2023:

Previously, the Biden Administration announced a definitive end to both the COVID-19 public health emergency (May 11, 2023) and the national health emergency (April 10, 2023). The U.S. Department of Labor, as allowed by the Joint Rule, subsequently exercised its discretion to determine July 10, 2023, as the end date of the Outbreak Period (60 days after the end of the public health emergency date, May 11, 2023).

  • Individuals and plans with timeframes that are subject to the relief under the Notices will have the applicable periods under the Notices disregarded until the earlier of (a) one year from the date they were first eligible for relief, or (b) July 10, 2023 [the end of the Outbreak Period]. In no case will a disregarded period exceed one year.
  • After July 10, 2023, the timeframes for individuals and plans with periods that were previously disregarded under the Notices will resume.

If your employer-sponsored group coverage ends, you may be able to continue your group coverage for a limited time under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). The act applies to employers with 20 or more employees, but doesn’t apply to employees of the federal government.

COBRA requires employers to inform their qualified former employees and/or their families of their right to continue employer-sponsored group coverage. Qualified individuals may extend coverage for 18, 29, or 36 months, depending on their situation. Individuals are responsible for paying the total dues for their coverage plus an additional 2 percent for administrative costs. COBRA members with a disability who extend coverage for 29 months may be required to pay up to 150 percent of the dues for the 19th month through the 29th month. Check with your employer or group for information about your monthly COBRA dues.

Note: As an employer, the federal government is exempt from COBRA but includes provisions for Temporary Continuation of Coverage (TCC), which offers options similar to COBRA. For more information including eligibility, please review the U.S. Office of Personnel Management website. As of January 1, 2011, HMSA’s Plan for Federal Employees now covers dependent children until age 26. Parents no longer have to enroll their children into the TCC plan for dependent children under 26.

For additional important information on COBRA, we encourage you to read:

CURRENT AS OF 07/20/2021