Employee Benefits Alert: COBRA Subsidy Extended to May 31, 2010
4/16/2010
On April 15, 2010, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4851, the “Continuing Extension Act of 2010” (the “Act”), which extends the 65% COBRA premium subsidy to workers who are involuntarily terminated and who lose health coverage on or before May 31, 2010.
Background
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). ARRA makes COBRA continuation coverage more affordable and accessible to terminated workers by offering a 65% COBRA premium subsidy for up to nine months for workers involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009 and who elect COBRA.
The subsidy program has already been extended twice. As part of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Act, signed into law December 19, 2009, the maximum duration of the subsidy was extended from nine to 15 months, and the subsidy was made available to workers involuntarily terminated on or before February 28, 2010. The Temporary Extension Act of 2010 then extended the subsidy to workers involuntarily terminated on or before March 31, 2010.
The Act’s Subsidy Extension
The subsidy is now available to workers involuntarily terminated on or before May 31, 2010.
The provisions of ARRA and the related extensions and guidance are discussed in more detail in our Alerts‚ available here.
For assistance in this area please contact one of the attorneys listed below or any member of your Mintz Levin client service team. Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Boston
R. Robert Popeo
Chairman
(617) 348-1716
rrpopeo@mintz.com
Alden Bianchi
Practice Group Leader
(617) 348-3057
abianchi@mintz.com
Tom Greene
(617) 348-1886
tgreene@mintz.com
Addy Press
(617) 348-1659
apress@mintz.com
Patricia Moran
(617) 348-3085
pmoran@mintz.com
David R. Lagasse
(212) 692-6743
dlagasse@mintz.com
Gregory R. Bennett
(212) 692-6842
gbennett@mintz.com
Jessica Catlow
(212) 692-6843
jcatlow@mintz.com
