As 2019 comes to a close, employers should review their census data to determine if they will be subject to federal COBRA or state mini-COBRA in 2020.
An employer that employed 20 or more employees on a typical business day during the preceding calendar year is subject to federal COBRA continuation coverage. All full-time and part-time common law employees of an employer are taken into account in determining the number of employees, not just those individuals who had health coverage. An individual who is not a common law employee, such as a self-employed individual, an independent contractor, or a non-employee director, is not counted. Part-time employees are considered a fraction of an employee, and employees employed outside of the United States, along with non-US citizen employees, are taken into account in determining if the employer meets the 20 employee threshold.
Employers with fewer than 20 employees in the preceding calendar year are not subject to the federal continuation coverage rules but may have to comply with state continuation coverage requirements.
All employers should review their employee census information and confirm if they will be subject to federal or state COBRA rules in 2020. If you are a client of Cobra Control Services, please contact your account manager if your federal/state COBRA designation has changed.
CCS can quickly and efficiently administer COBRA for group health plans. For more information about CCS' personalized COBRA service, please contact service@CobraControl.com.
