With the COBRA subsidy having expired, Congress has moved ahead to extend the subsidy. Section 1010 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 extends the COBRA subsidy program for six more months, moving from a nine month subsidy to a 15 month subsidy. It also extends the eligibility for workers from December 31, 2009 to...
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Congress continues to health care reform while the emergency COBRA subsidy is set to expire. To help out the wave of workers laid-off, downsized and outsourced, Congress included a health insurance subsidy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The government would pay 65 percent of the COBRA premium for eligible...
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The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2009-27 (.pdf), providing new guidance relating to the COBRA subsidy made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Notice 2009-27 provides guidance on the definition of involuntary termination and assistance eligible individual. It also provides more detail on calculating the subsidy and determining the...
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The Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation group at Bingham McCutchen LLP put together a nice summary of the steps employers need to take in light of the changes to COBRA under the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. They dive into many of the details of who is eligible for the subsidy...
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Jack Eiferman, Director, Goulston & Storrs, specializes in healthcare and Adrienne Markham, Director, Goulston & Storrs, specializes in employment law gave this webinar and I thought I would share my notes. Adrienne pointed out that federal COBRA is only for companies with more than 20 employees. Massachusetts, like many other states, have a mini-COBRA...
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included some relief for laid-off employees. One of the biggest is a 65% subsidy for the payment of health plan payment from the government for certain eligible participants in COBRA health plan continuation coverage. ARRA mandates that health plans notify certain current and former participants and...
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As part of the enormous stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal government included some relief for laid-off employees: COBRA Coverage Under ARRA. Some of the unanswered questions are starting to be answered. The IRS has posted information: COBRA Health Insurance Continuation Premium Subsidy, with COBRA: Answers for Employers. The...
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As part of the enormous stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal government included some relief for laid-off employees. Mark Spring discusses the COBRA subsidy in ARRA over at the California Labor and Employment Law Blog: The Stimulus Bill’s Impact on COBRA. The biggest change to COBRA is a 65%...
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