COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) is a Federal law which requires "qualified beneficiaries" be offered the opportunity to temporarily continue certain employer sponsored health care benefits, at full cost, after experiencing a "qualifying event" that causes them to lose coverage. Qualified beneficiaries include covered employees and their dependents, and qualifying events include employment termination, reduction in hours, divorce, death, and Medicare eligibility.
For more information on COBRA, please see your enrollment materials or the US Department of Labor's COBRA FAQs.
COBRA Timeline
- The employer has 30 days from the date of the member’s termination to submit the information to Ameriflex.
Example: Member is terminated January 1st. The client has until January 31st to submit their information to Ameriflex.
- Ameriflex then has 14 days to send the COBRA notification to the participant. Once the member’s information has been received and/or properly entered into the COBRA portal, the member’s Specific Rights Notification (Election Package) will be generated overnight and mailed out the next business day.
- The member then has 60 days from the date on their election package to elect Cobra coverage.
Example: The member’s information is received January 15th and their election package is sent and dated January 17th. They have until March 18th to submit their election information to Ameriflex.
- Once the member makes their election either online or by mail, they have 45 days to remit their initial premium payment to Ameriflex. All subsequent payments must be received within 30 days of the first of each month thereafter.
Example: The member elects coverage on February 2nd. They have until March 19th to submit their first payment to Ameriflex.
