Barring some last-minute extension, the federal COBRA premium subsidy program will die on Aug. 31.
Currently, there is no action from Congress pending to extend the program. So if you have COBRA participants that are still receiving the subsidy, you may want to provide them with a notice that their subsidy eligibility is coming to an end.
The last group of eligible participants (those who began receiving assistance in May 2010) could collect the subsidy for 15 months. That means they only have a few weeks of eligibility left.
The subsidy covered 65% of the cost of eligible individuals’ COBRA health insurance premiums.
Individuals who want to keep their COBRA coverage beyond the deadline will be responsible for 100% of the COBRA premiums.
Background
Since its inception in an economic stimulus measure Congress passed in early 2009, the program was extended several times.
Originally, employees laid off from Sept. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2009, could collect the subsidy for a maximum of nine months.
The program was then extended and expanded in December 2009. At that time the subsidy was made available to those laid off through Feb. 28, 2010, and the amount of time participants could collect the subsidy was extended to 15 months.
There were two more extensions — one in March and one in April of 2010. The final extension made the subsidy available to those involuntarily terminated through May 31, 2010.
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