COBRA establishes required periods of coverage for continuation health benefits. A plan, however, may provide longer periods of coverage beyond those required by COBRA. COBRA beneficiaries generally are eligible to pay for group coverage during a maximum of 18 months for qualifying events due to employment termination or reduction of hours of work. Certain qualifying events, or a second qualifying event during the initial period of coverage, may permit a beneficiary to receive a maximum of 36 months of coverage. Coverage begins on the date that coverage would otherwise have been lost by reason of a qualifying event and can end when:
- The last day of maximum coverage is reached
- Premiums are not paid on a timely basis
- The employer ceases to maintain any group health plan
- Coverage is obtained with another employer group health plan that does not contain any exclusion or limitation with respect to any pre-existing condition of such beneficiary
- A beneficiary is entitled to Medicare benefits
Special rules for disabled individuals may extend the maximum periods of coverage. If a qualified beneficiary is determined under Title II or XVI of the Social Security Act to have been disabled at the time of a termination of employment or reduction in hours of employment and the qualified beneficiary properly notifies the plan administrator of the disability determination, the 18-month period is expanded to 29 months.
Although COBRA specifies certain maximum required periods of time that continued health coverage must be offered to qualified beneficiaries, COBRA does not prohibit plans from offering continuation health coverage that goes beyond the COBRA periods.
Some plans allow beneficiaries to convert group health coverage to an individual policy. If this option is available from the plan under COBRA, it must be offered to you. In this case, the option must be given for the beneficiary to enroll in a conversion health plan within 180 days before COBRA coverage ends. The premium is generally not at a group rate. The conversion option, however, is not available if the beneficiary ends COBRA coverage before reaching the maximum period of entitlement.