As you will recall from my earlier post, Congress and the President extended the COBRA subsidy, originally a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (the stimulus bill), to individuals involuntary terminated through February 28, 2010 (from December 31, 2009) and the length of the subsidy to 15 months (from 9 months). 

This COBRA subsidy extension will require new notices be sent to individuals involuntarily terminated (and otherwise qualifying under ARRA as an “assistance eligible individual” (AEI)). These model notices were released yesterday, and, in many cases, AEIs must be notified by February 17, 2010. The Department of Labor revised its General Notice to reflect the COBRA subsidy extension. This notice is to be used for all AEIs who have not already received a general COBRA notice. The Department of Labor also issued a model Premium Assistance Extension Notice to be provided to:

  1. Individuals qualifying as AEIs as of October 31, 2009 and individuals who experienced a termination of employment on or after October 31, 2009 and lost health insurance coverage (unless they were already provided a timely, updated General Notice). This notice must be provided by February 17, 2010.
  2. a) Individuals whose original 9 months of COBRA subsidy ended prior to December 19, 2009 and who are still eligible for some portion of the extended 15 months of COBRA subsidy and (b) individuals whose 9 months of COBRA subsidy ends or ended after December 19, 2009. These individuals must be notified within 60 days of the termination of the 9 month COBRA subsidy period or, for individuals whose COBRA subsidy ended prior to December 19, 2009, prior to February 17, 2010. 

Both model notices are available at: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRAmodelnotice.html. In addition, the Department of Labor has updated its fact sheets, posters, and frequently asked questions available at: www.dol.gov/COBRA.