http://www.elinfonet.com/fedindex/4 Employment Law Articles covering the Consolidated Consolidated Omnibus Reconcillation Act (known as COBRA) Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:03:09 EST en-us http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9077 Article: 9077 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed The Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (COBRA Extension Act), which extends by one month the COBRA premium reduction provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Act). You may recall that the Stimulus Act provides for certain COBRA premium reductions for qualified individuals, and this COBRA Extension Act introduces a nuance to catch one type of qualifying event: http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9073 Article: 9073 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (the "Act"), provisions of which extend several assistance programs that are essential to the many persons currently unemployed in the U.S. In relevant part, the Act extended, for a second time, the program that subsidizes continued health care coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (and similar state continuation coverage laws) ("COBRA") for involuntarily terminated employees. That program, initially enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("ARRA") and more fully described in a prior Cooley Alert, provides that certain employees whose employment is involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 (resulting in COBRA continuation coverage eligibility during that period) can continue health coverage under COBRA by paying only 35% of the ordinary COBRA premiums for up to nine months. The insurer, the employer or the health plan pays the remaining 65%, which is recovered from the federal government through a credit against payroll tax liabilities or through direct reimbursement. In December 2009, that program was extended and expanded by the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (the "Appropriations Act"), as described in a prior Cooley Alert. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9068 Article: 9068 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST The Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (“TEA 2010") was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 2, 2010. TEA 2010 further extends by a month the COBRA premium subsidy program originally provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("ARRA”), and extended by the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (“DOD Act”) through February 28, 2010. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9061 Article: 9061 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST By a 62-36 vote, the U.S. Senate has approved a tax extender package (H.R. 4213, Tax Extenders Act of 2009) that contains an extension of tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks and other provisions aimed at creating jobs. The bill also provides extensions through December 31, 2010, of health insurance subsidies for unemployed workers under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) and emergency unemployment insurance benefits. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9054 Article: 9054 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST Newly-enacted legislation extends and expands the 65 percent federal COBRA subsidy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in cases of involuntary termination of employment. A stopgap measure signed into law on March 2 by President Barack Obama extends the end of the eligibility period from February 28 to March 31, 2010, and makes other longer-lasting changes to the year-old subsidy arrangement. These changes include: http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9045 Article: 9045 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed into law further amendments to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) subsidy provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). These amendments not only expand the time that the subsidy is available, but also contain an extension of the subsidy to certain individuals whose reduced hours prior to their involuntary termination may have previously rendered them ineligible for the subsidy. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9038 Article: 9038 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (Act) that once again extended the eligibility period during which an involuntarily terminated individual could qualify for the COBRA subsidy originally created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The period during which you could qualify for the subsidy was originally set to expire on December 31, 2009, but was extended by the Defense Appropriations Act of 2010 until February 28, 2010. This period has again been extended by the Act to March 31, 2010. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9036 Article: 9036 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST Once again President Obama signed into law another extension to the COBRA subsidy originally created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA"). This new legislation, the Temporary Extension Act ("the Act") of 2010, extends the COBRA subsidy to those involuntarily terminated through March 31, 2010. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9035 Article: 9035 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST On March 2, 2010, the President signed the Temporary Extension Act of 2010, which, among other things, extends the 65% COBRA premium subsidy through March 31, 2010. The subsidy was originally provided through December 31, 2009, under the 2009 stimulus act (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or “ARRA”), and was previously extended through February 28, 2010, via the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. (For information regarding the original COBRA subsidy and the previous extension, please see our previous E*Bulletins from January 2010, March 2009, and February 2009). http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=9033 Article: 9033 elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST Right on the heels of the COBRA subsidy and subsidy extension notices required as a result of the COBRA subsidy and its extension, here is yet another notice that employers with group health plans must send to their employees annually. On February 4, 2010, the Department of Labor issued a model notice for employers to use in drafting their annual Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (“CHIPRA”) notice. The model notice can be found at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/chipmodelnotice.doc.