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The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 , or COBRA , is a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Reagan that, among other things, mandates an insurance program giving some employees the ability to continue health insurance coverage after leaving employment. COBRA includes amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The law deals with a great variety of subjects, such as tobacco price supports, railroads, private pension plans, disability insurance, and the postal service, but it is perhaps best known for Title X, which amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny income tax deductions to employees for contributions to a group health plan unless such plan meets certain continuing coverage requirements.

Although this statute became law on April 7, 1986, its official name is the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (Pub.L. 99-272, 100 Stat. 82). Because of the discrepancy between the official name of the Act and the year in which it was enacted, some government publications refer to the Act as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986. The Act is often referred to simply as "COBRA".

KPV asked: "I just got laid off last week and I will get Cobra insurance . My question is that I should get the paper work within a week or two. Am I covered during this time or am without medical insurance. Say tomorrow I have to go to the doctor am i covered?? or does it not begin until I submit the paperwork and pay the insurance comany. Thank you"

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Kimberly H replied: "it's a rip off...don't do it"

JTB replied: "it not begin until I submit the paperwork and pay the insurance comany. but will cover since you were told you are inCobra...check that out with your agent"

Kristy replied: "Technically, no, you do not have insurance right now. Your insurance company will send you the paperwork and you will have so many days to complete it and send it back. Once they receive your paperwork, they will retroact the effective date. So, if you go to the doctor tomorrow and give them your insurance card, then later pay the Cobra premium, the insurance company will pay your doctor bill."

wolfkin77 replied: "a cobra is simply an extention of your current insurance. there shouldnt be an "uncovered" time. instead of your company (ex-company) picking up part of the cost, you pay the full cost. its EXPENSIVE. youre best to go without it, especially if you are young. find another job with benefits and get it there. medical insurance will break you."

Rick replied: "I've been on Cobra a couple times. It is in effect immediately provided you send in the premium within 30 days (at least 30 days) so you have plenty of time. You'll get the paperwork and will need to send a check but it's retroactive as long as you send them the money. If you need to see a doctor it won't be a problem - you're covered."

searcher replied: "I used to work as a COBRA representative for a third party administrator. First a couple of clarifications here. COBRA is not the insurance policy. It's the right to continue the exact same insurance policy you had through your employer. The only difference is that you will now be responsible for 100% of your premiums (plus a 2% administration fee) instead of your employer paying for all of it.At the annual open enrollment, you can switch to another health care plan, if that is offered by your employer. Secondly, since COBRA allows you to continue your policy, after you pay, you will reinstate your insurance back to the day your current billing period ends (you have to reinstate back to that date by law). Some employers are situated that your policy will terminate upon the last day of employment, and other companies are situated to continue for a few days to the first of the month. So, let's say you take COBRA and continue your insurance policy, it will cover anything up to the time you stop making payments. Most likely the insurance policy will not cover you until you pay for the monthly premiums, but you can always submit the bill to the insurance policy if they initially don't cover it. But they won't cover it until you pay for the insurance premiums. Another issue you may not be aware of. Call the number on the back of the insurance card. Sometimes an insurance policy will allow you to go to a conversion policy, and it may actually be a lower cost policy. Call them to find out. But if it is cheaper, you must waive COBRA coverage. Once you sign up for COBRA, you cannot convert until the end of the COBRA period. But be aware that the conversion policy may not be the same policy and may or may not cover the same items. They also might offer an individual policy, which also may not be the same policy.As far as the time frame for the paperwork. The company legally has up to 30 days for discovery, which means that if the benefits rep has to be officially notified by the company about your loss of employment. After that, they have 15 days to postmark your qualifying event letter. At that point, you have so many days (I can't remember the amount of days) to postmark your enrollment form, and then so much time after that to postmark the initial payment. But be prepared that the first payment will be the most expensive because you have to cover the premiums back to the date of loss of coverage.The only options you have will be who to cover. for instance, if you have a family, you can elect coverage for the entire family or for only certain members of your family. I hope this information helps you!"

lolabeets asked: "I was let go from my job for health reasons, I had insurance there and upon leaving they did not offfer me to continue with the cobra plan. Who, Where do I get this info."

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Angelic D replied: "This same thing happened to me a few months ago. You have to contact the insurance company you had through your former employer and set up the COBRA yourself. Make sure you can afford it though- you cannot make a late/back payment for COBRA and since I was too sick to work in the first place, I couldnt work to support the COBRA- so now im S.O.L...GOOD LUCK! :)"

Kirsten replied: "i think you should contact your human resource person, or the person in charge of coordinating your health, or your boss. you may also want to look up your state laws on cobra. sometimes employers need to be reminded of their legal obligations."

adrienne v replied: "go to the b.b.b,wed sit and you can start from their.good luck"

mbrcatz17 replied: "Well, they might not be REQUIRED to offer you Cobra if they're small enough. Here's a web site with lots of info:"

hi k replied: "Go to that company"

DuSteDShaDoW replied: "If the company had 20 or less employee's then they do not have to make you a COBRA offer... "

SoBelle replied: "It is required by law that your company that let you go provide you with all the papers and information on Cobra. They can get in big trouble not doing this. Call them back and tell them you want the paperwork for Cobra insurance coverage..if they don't provide it call the insurance company you were with and tell them what has happened. Then I would call the Labor Board or Insurance Com for your state and tell them what has happened. Good Luck"

diannarodgers@sbcglobal.net asked: "I have been making cobra insurance payments and only need the insurance until December, if I stop making payments and I don't need anymedical coverage during that time, is that ok? In other words if I stop making the payments can I make up the back payments should I have medical bills come up?"

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kate replied: "If you stop making payments , they drop you and you can't get back on .No , they will not retro cover bills that occur during unpaid / uncovered time .>"

mister_galager replied: "No you cannot do that.If you stop making payments, you are no longer covered and cannot go back and get coverage just because you want to."

midwesthoney829 replied: "No.If you stop paying your COBRA, you get dropped. You can't get it back...even if you end up needing it."

michaelh7 replied: "You may consider dropping your COBRA coverage and getting a temporary/short-term policy instead. Pre-existing conditions will not be covered on the short-term plan. The upside is that short term coverage will be considerably less expensive than your current premium. If you have no pre-existing conditions now, short term coverage is the way to go."

Rick asked: "I might be leaving a job that I just started a month and a half ago, and am wondering whether or not I'll have the option of having COBRA insurance when or if I leave. Is there an amount of time that you have to work there, to qualify for Cobra enrollment?If you can, please provide link to your suggested time. Thanks."

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TheMom replied: "It seems time does not matter.The company size, why you left and if you were fully covered seemed to be the determination factors.This was informative:"

J.G. Wentworth ♠ replied: "I am not sure how to answer your question but if you need health insurance join the national association of self employed as a partial member. You don't nned to be selfemployed to join. Reason being is you can purchase a good health insur. package at a group rate. NASE has over 250,000 members so you can go on the website and input youinfo and get a great quoteNot to mention COBRA can be very expensive"

mbrcatz17 replied: "You just have to have insurance coverage in place, the last day of the "qualifying event" (meaning quitting, getting fired, or laid off.)"

Jaime S asked: "My last employer didn't offer me Cobra insurance and I ended up in the hospital for a week and now have 10k in hispital bills. Should I talk to a laywer? Isn't it some sort of law to offer it?Yes I was full time and had health insurance thru them, and yes I am aware that I would have to pay for it and would have but I was never offered itThanks everyone for your answers, I found out the reason why was because we has less than 20 employees."

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el_train_73 replied: "Any health benefits are a privelidge. Not a right."

wizjp replied: "Check with your insurance company first to make sure your policy could and should have been "Cobra'd""

rogueriverbob replied: "yes you can get cobra, but you have to pay for it, the employer does not do that,....."

roser replied: "There are conditions. Was it a full time job and did you have insurance through that job? If so, they are required to provide you an opportunity to sign up for COBRA, which means you still get your old coverage, but you have to pay the employers portion of the premium. If your employer didn't provide group insurance, they don't have to provide COBRA. Were you fired for cause? In certain cases, an employer may be exempt from this requirement if you were fired for theft, drug use of gross insubordination like assaulting a fellow employee or some other egregious act. In any case, if you weren't paying the premiums, you're not covered.."

tnfarmgirl replied: "In order to be offered Cobra insurance you had to be insured by the groups plan at the time of your termination.Cobra insurance is the same coverage under the same plan in effect at the time of your termination- the only difference is you are paying your premiums in full not just the employee portion but actually what the employer is charged for your coverage.In order for the Cobra statute to apply your employer must employee 20 or more employees- see the link below to the Dept of laborAdd: Cobra notifications are sent through the mail normally directly from the insurance company- if you failed to update your address- it is very likely that your paperwork has been sent to an outdated address. You only have 60 days from the date of your termination to enroll in Cobra coverage and only eligible once enrolled in Cobra for 18 months of coverage.I would call your HR deapartment at your previous place of employment- they have 30 days to notify you of your right to Cobra and policies can be backdated to cover you immediately after you are ineligible for group coverage if you can pay the premiums."

boyabuja replied: "If you really live in a place where poisonous snakes are such a problem, perhaps consider moving?"

s and d e replied: "actually, it should have come from the insurance carrier themselves, not the employer. the carrier has to offer Cobra coverage. it seems like you should have some sort of recourse but it might end up being one of those "he said/she said" type things. good luck"

DaisyCake replied: "There are exceptions to the Cobra laws - for instance, your employer may have been "self-insured" but used a known insurance carrier to handle the paperwork. In this case, the insurance company isn't your insurer and isn't required to offer you COBRA.Of course, it is worth investigating further - but don't get your hopes too hight."

Health insurance came to mind when I read that President-elect Barack Obama is resigning his U.S. Senate seat, effective Sunday. Does it mean he has to pay the full cost of his premiums, including the share his employer paid? That’s what my wife and I have had to do under the so-called COBRA bridge plan.

So the question is: Is paying over $1000 a month for Cobra health insurance work it? This is actually a very complicated question, which I've been pondering and analyzing for a week or two. This blog takes you through how I've thought about this-maybe it will help you if you are in the same position.

Divorce is challenging under the best circumstances. In the midst of undoing all those “I Dos”, you will need to understand and apply your rights under COBRA. Learning the laws applicable to your situation under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 known as COBRA is no less of a challenge and on par with Division of Assets.

informative website on cobra insurance and alternatives

Easy Health Insurance OC specializes in finding Orange County, CA residents a health insurance policy that fits their individual needs and budget. If you have insurance from Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Kaiser, Health Net or Aetna but you can't afford the premiums: 949-291-3800. They helped me, I was on a COBRA plan and now I have affordable insurance!

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Someone must not have gotten the memo...

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