Cobra 2 questions

Balloonman1 · March 2006

First off how long does the insurance company have to send you the CObra notice once you are "dropped" from coverage due to a divorce?

Also what are the penalties for failure to send the election forms?

The last cobra post made me realize I have seen nothing from my ex wife's insurer. Finalized early February coverage would have ended end of the month.

Just wondering....

Balloonman

Paul in Cannon Beach · March 2006

I am way out of my expertise here Balloonman but I believe this is how it works:

Employer has 30 days to notify plan administrator of a qualifying event (divorce).

Plan administrator has 14 days to generate notice to all qualified beneficiaries.

QBs have 60 days to elect and an additional 45 days to make retroactive payment.

Failure to comply with COBRA can include IRS penalties ($100 per day per violation), ERISA penalties ($110 per day per per QB), reimbursement for claims, damages, and attorney fees.

By the way, your 60 day election period only starts when you have had a "loss of coverage" (the divorce) AND recieved your notice. Since you never recieved a notice, your timer hasn't started.

That's my understanding of how this works. Is it possible that she may not have dropped you off coverage? Perhaps that is why it hasn't triggered a notice.

Balloonman1 · March 2006

I am positive she did drop me. Said she was contacting HR, the reason being she would have to continue to pay for my coverage with no reimbursement from me....... so I am very comfortable that they were told to drop me.

Balloonman

atrimble · March 2006

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-29-06 AT 01:51PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Your ex-'s HR may have told her to produce evidence of the divorce before they'd process her request... especially so if the employer was paying the entire premium on dependent coverage.

And it is the employer's (plan administrator's) duty to notify qualified beneficiaries, not the insurance company. So if HR hasn't received proof of divorce from your ex-, they may still be charging her for your coverage. Of course, once notified of COBRA eligibility, most insurance companies will automatically cancel coverage after an election period passes, whether or not they're satisfied the qualified beneficiaries were notified in a timely manner (edit: since it's assumed the employer will handle all tne notification). Only upon receipt of a copy of the COBRA election form will they continue the coverage passed COBRA election expiration. At least in my experience.

jrzgrl · March 2006

Definitely call the insurance company to see if you're still on the plan. I don't term unless there is proof of the divorce and it sounds like that is what happened. Our insurance companies do send out term notices to to employees every time I submit one.

stilldazed · April 2006

Agree with the other posts, but call your ex-wife's employer as well and ask. If they have requested evidence of the divorced, they'll probably tell you. If they have and maybe she forgot--divorce is a trying time for all parties--you can tell them and get firsthand instructions on how to proceed.

KDub · April 2006

Under many (and probably most, if not all) plans, it is the responsibility of the divorced spouse to notify the employer of the divorce. If you didn't, you may be out of luck. You should probably call the company's HR office to see what your rights are at this point.

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided for informational purposes only and is not offered as legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. No person should act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Do not send us information until you speak with one of our lawyers and get authorization to send that information to us.

irenesmsaclaims · April 2006

It's the responsibility of the employee who is divorced to notify the employer or plan administrator, not the spouse (non-employee). That shouldn't stop you from contacting your ex-wife's employer and trying to find out what has happened. The employer has to send election forms to dependents within 14 or 44 days, depending on the recipient of the notice of qualifying event. You could not, under ERISA, recover anything beyond benefits which would have been payable, not damages, etc.

KDub · April 2006

I stand corrected. The law does state the employee must notify the employer of the divorce. However, the regulations permit the divorced spouse to notify the employer as well. As a practical matter, if you're the divorced spouse, and if you want to get COBRA, then I don't recommend that you count on the employee who is divorcing you (or whom you are divorcing) telling the employer about the divorce - do it yourself. As another practical matter, though, it may be that the employee did tell the employer about the divorce in order to drop the coverage for the spouse. If so, then the spouse may be able to get COBRA now. Call the HR department and ask them what you need to do to get COBRA. Otherwise, call the Department of Labor or legal counsel to ask for help.

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided for informational purposes only and is not offered as legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. No person should act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Do not send us information until you speak with one of our lawyers and get authorization to send that information to us.

E Wart · May 2006

I just saw this. I don't know all the time lines, but I know that the employee has a limited amount of time to notify the employee of changes (30 days from date of event in our policy.) They do have to provide proof of change (divorce papers.) If the employee doesn't have the proof yet, we notify the insurance company and they "pend" the x-spouses coverage until we do get it so claims will not be paid in error and so that the "clock ticking' will stop. If the employee notifies us after the time line (and we notify insurance company after the time line) we don't reimbure employee for all of the over payment of premium and if it has been a certain amount of time, COBRA doesn't have to be offered.
One more thought. When was your x wife's open enrollment period. She could have dropped you during this and there are cases where you may not be "offered" COBRA. Do not sit back. Take some action!
Hope you have this all stragithened out by now.
E Wart

Cobra 2 questions

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