Q.: What happens if a former employee on our health plan through COBRA makes a late payment?
A.: COBRA premiums are due the first of the month for that month of COBRA. The COBRA rules do provide a 30-day grace period for payment before coverage can be terminated. Payment is considered “made” when the payment is postmarked, not received.
If payment is made within the grace period, your coverage should remain active. If payment is not postmarked by the end of the grace period, your coverage may be permanently terminated. Once terminated for non-payment, COBRA coverage generally cannot be reinstated, even if a later payment is made. An employer who wishes to reinstate coverage after a late payment should check with the insurer and consider that similar late payments in the future should be treated consistently.
Benefit Allocation Systems (BAS) provides best-in-class, online solutions for: Employee Benefits Enrollment; COBRA; Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs); Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs); Leave of Absence Premium Billing (LOA); Affordable Care Act Record Keeping, Compliance & IRS Reporting (ACA); Group Insurance Premium Billing; Property & Casualty Premium Billing; and Payroll Integration.
MyEnroll360 can Integrate with any insurance carrier for enrollment eligibility management (e.g., Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Aetna, United Health Care, Kaiser, CIGNA and many others), and integrate with any payroll system for enrollment deduction management (e.g., Workday, ADP, Paylocity, PayCor, UKG, and many others).
