COVID-19 & COBRA Coverage

As of May 11, 2023, President Biden has ended the National State of Emergency, which was originally declared on March 13, 2020 to start on March 1, 2020.  During the National State of Emergency, there were certain COBRA deadlines which had been extended for up to a maximum of one year from the initial deadline, or until the Outbreak Period ends.  Now that the National State of Emergency has ended, the following deadlines will revert to their shorter pre-pandemic lengths effective July 10, 2023.

1. the 30-day period (or 60-day period, if applicable) to request special enrollment,
2. the 60-day election period for COBRA continuation coverage
3. the date for making COBRA premium payments
4. the date for individuals to notify the plan of a qualifying event or determination of disability,
5. the date within which individuals may file a benefit claim under the plan’s claims procedure
6. the date within which claimants may file an appeal of an adverse benefit determination under the plan’s claims procedure
7. the date within which claimants may file a request for an external review after receipt of an adverse benefit determination or final internal adverse benefit determination
8. the date within which a claimant may file information to perfect a request for external review upon a finding that the request was not complete
9. the date for providing a COBRA election notice

What does this mean for COBRA members?

For members with a qualifying event who were provided a COBRA election notice prior to the past year, your above deadlines expire one year from when they would have normally expired. For example, if you had a qualifying event of March 1, 2022 and were sent a COBRA election notice on March 4, 2022, your 1 year window to elect COBRA expires on May 3, 2023.

If you experienced a qualifying event and were provided a COBRA election notice within the past year, but prior to July 10, 2023, your above deadlines will start on July 10, 2023. 

• If you have not yet elected COBRA, you will have 60 days to elect COBRA from 7/10/2023-9/8/2023.  If you elect COBRA within the period 7/10/2023-9/8/2023, you will have 45 days to pay all past due months to current from the date that you elect COBRA coverage.
• If you are enrolled and have not yet made your first COBRA premium payment, you will have 45 days to pay all past due months to current from 7/10/2023-8/24/2023. 
• If you are enrolled and have made at least 1 premium payment, you will have 30 days to pay all past due months to current from 7/10/2023-8/9/2023. 

If you experience a qualifying event on or after July 10, 2023, your above deadlines will proceed normally.

To learn more about these and other upcoming changes, please visit the Department of Labor website at: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/aca-part-58.pdf

You can view President Biden’s announcement regarding the end of the National Emergency here: