View COBRAinReview in full detail. Visit COBRASolutions.com
February 2017

 

Administrate Coverage during an Election or Initial Payment Period

An employer or plan administrator has 44 days to provide an election notice. Then the qualified beneficiary has 60 days to elect COBRA. Once the qualified beneficiary has elected COBRA he or she has another 45 days to pay the initial premium. So what happens during these timeframes?

During the election period it is up to each employer to decide whether to remove the qualified beneficiary from the plan when coverage is lost, or allow the qualified beneficiary continue on the plan. If removed from the plan, COBRA coverage could be pending until payment is received. The employer is then responsible to reinstate coverage back to the original loss-of-coverage date once payment is received. Before an employer chooses to keep the qualified beneficiary on the health plan during these grace periods, there are a few aspects to contemplate. If a group health plan is insured, how far back will the insurer allow the retroactive removal of a qualified beneficiary by the employer? Some insurers may not allow the removal to go back more than 60 days. If you add up the three time frames allowed (which would be 44 + 60 + 45) you end up with almost a five month period. If an insurer allows the removal back to only 60 days, the employer will be self-insuring the period that the insurer does not allow. Consequently, it is recommended that the qualified beneficiary be removed from the plan and only reinstated if payment is received. In the case that an employer desires to keep a qualified beneficiary on the plan, it should review the process with the insurer. Upon approval by the insurer to retroactively remove a qualified beneficiary to the original loss-of-coverage date when an election and payment has failed to be received, it is prudent for the employer to obtain confirmation in writing.

How about monthly grace periods for premium payment? This period has to be at least 30 days and most employers hold it to that timeframe. So, if the qualified beneficiary does not pay the monthly premium within the 30 day grace period, the insurer will allow retro-active removal from the plan without any issues. In some cases, insurers will remove qualified beneficiaries each month until premium has been received. Upon receipt of payment, a plan must promptly reinstate coverage; thereby the qualified beneficiary receives coverage for the entire month. This can be a very complicated process to administrate because when a qualified beneficiary is removed each month, claims are denied. As soon as the premium payment is received, however, claims have to be processed.

What about denied claims that a qualified beneficiary has during these grace periods? First of all, claims during the election period or grace period could potentially be denied. Once the qualified beneficiary pays for COBRA coverage, the denied claims can be resubmitted upon reinstatement onto the plan.

What is the correct response when someone contacts the employer or plan administrator about health plan status during these grace periods? According to the IRS final COBRA regulations, a complete response is required to a health care provider’s request regarding a qualified beneficiary’s coverage status during the election and initial payment periods. This means that just a covered or a not covered response will not suffice. To respond to a coverage pending election, the employer can indicate that a qualified beneficiary is removed from the plan during the 60-day election period and then reinstated once COBRA is elected and first payment is received. It is wise to inform the provider’s office of this status, as well as to let them know the qualified beneficiary is not currently on the plan but will have coverage, retroactively, once COBRA coverage is elected and the first payment is received. This notification should include specific dates of election period and premium due dates.

So what is the response if the qualified beneficiary is not removed during the election/payment period? This other option is appropriate if the plan allows coverage during the election period but cancels it retroactively if COBRA is not elected. In this case, the plan or administrator is required to notify a provider that the qualified beneficiary is covered but is subject to retroactive termination if COBRA coverage is not elected and the appropriate premiums are not paid. As part of the information given to the provider, specific election and payment dates should be included.

To avoid liability or litigation, accurate information should be given to a health care provider requesting a qualified beneficiary’s coverage status. Because COBRA is an employer law, the burden of liability may belong to the employer rather than an insurer. Any inquiries regarding health coverage should be handled by the employer or plan administrator rather than the insurer.

Common Examples of “Cause” Resulting in COBRA Termination

The most common examples of “cause” is fraud that is committed by qualified beneficiaries: leaving an ex-spouse on the group health plan after a divorce, covering non-dependents such as stepchildren and other relatives, and failure to report the fact that an adult child under the age of 26 is eligible for other group coverage. Some other examples of fraudulent activities that employers should be made aware of are as follows.

Sometimes Qualified Beneficiaries are tempted to try and come out ahead when covered by two different health insurers. Failure to reveal coverage through another plan by submitting the same claim to two different insurers in the hopes of getting at least 100% of the medical claim reimbursed should never be expected. Dual coverage is possible; however, only one of the insurers will be considered the primary and the other will be the secondary. This attempted “double dipping” will probably not go unnoticed. It will become apparent when the insurers check into the coordination of benefits.

Unfortunately there have been cases where an individual has submitted multiple copies of the same invoice for an ongoing medical condition, but with additional falsified dates in order to get reimbursed for services that were not provided or used. Falsification of claims would be considered fraudulent activity, which would be grounds for COBRA termination. There have also been instances when an individual has received prescription drugs for their medical conditions, only to resell them in a money making scheme. Again this would be considered fraudulent activity, which would also warrant COBRA termination.

Writing a bad check for the COBRA premium could result in COBRA termination if the individual cannot rectify the situation within the grace period. Although there are no guidelines regarding this specific incident, it would be prudent for the plan administrator to make an attempt to contact the individual about this situation before taking drastic steps. If this was simply an oversight and could be corrected in a timely manner, COBRA coverage would continue; however writing bad checks that cannot be covered are grounds for early termination of coverage.

Finally, cause can be expanded past fraudulent activity to include failure to follow plan procedures. If a plan requires that all participants re-enroll every year during open enrollment, including those on COBRA, failure to do so can result in early termination. In the 2007 court case, White v. The Kroger Co., the court upheld the employer’s decision to terminate COBRA coverage before the maximum coverage period due to failure on the part of the QB to re-enroll.

Again, plan administrators need to remember to provide written notice to each affected QB when the COBRA coverage is being terminated early; unfortunately there is no exception even when the termination is due to fraudulent activity.

Is Your Cafeteria Plan Ready for 2017?

Most employers have been receiving large rate increases over the last several years from their insurance providers because medical trend is over 15%. In many cases, the employer is forced to pass on the increase to employees. A good way to minimize rate increases is to start a Cafeteria Plan. A Cafeteria Plan allows employees to pay for their portion of premiums on a pre-tax basis. This lowers their taxable base, therefore decreasing federal, FICA and most state's taxes. Most employees (depending on their tax bracket) will see that a Cafeteria Plan saves them 20% to 35% of their cost of premiums. Not only does the employee save money but the employer sees a reduction in their FICA and other payroll taxes.

In addition to paying for premiums on a pre-tax basis, employees may set up Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to pay for items not covered by an insurance plan (i.e. deductibles, copays, coinsurance, over the counter medication, etc.) and even Dependent Care expenses. It is a win-win situation; both the employer and employee save money in taxes.

COBRA Solutions offers Cafeteria Plan Manager software program that assists employers with the administration of a Cafeteria Plan. Please visit our website at www.cobrasolutions.com for further information and a free 60-day no obligation demonstration version of Cafeteria Plan Manager. It is an outstanding software program that will pay for itself in the first few months, and the savings will continue for years. To see what your firm may save by implementing a Cafeteria Plan, visit our site at http://www.cafeteriaplanmanager.com  and click the "Calculate Your Savings" link.

 



In this Issue:

Administrate Coverage during an Election or Initial Payment Period

Common Examples of “Cause” Resulting in COBRA Termination

Is Your Cafeteria Plan Ready for 2017?

See Also:

COBRA Solutions
Cafeteria Plan Manager
Employee Database Manager
COBRA Administration Manager
U.S. Department of Labor
COBRA and the Trade Act of 2002
COBRA and Medicare Entitlement


Technical Information
The current version of COBRA Administration Manager (CAM) is 17.0.9.
For information on changes to CAM and technical assistance on updating the software, please review the links below.
Customer Care - Support Website
What has changed in CAM?
How do I UPDATE CAM?
How do I REINSTALL CAM?
How do I BACKUP CAM?


Announcements:
Our customers can now earn $50 for each referral that leads to a new COBRA Solutions customer. This money can be applied against any COBRA Solutions product or support service invoice. If you know of another company that could benefit from using our software, let us know and it could earn you $50 for every referral you provide. This is a great way to reduce your costs and contribute to the ever-growing network of COBRA Solutions customers. Call us at 800-325-1957.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
COBRAinReview and its contents are copyrighted and are proprietary products of COBRA Solutions, Inc. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or transfer of its contents, in any medium, is strictly prohibited.
COBRA Solution, Inc., 4500 S. Lakeshore Dr. #420, Tempe, Arizona 85282, USA