COBRA Information

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), as amended on December 19, 2009 by the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (2010 DOD Act), provides for premium reductions for health benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985. The 2010 DOD Act extended the COBRA premium reduction eligibility period for two months until February 28, 2010 and increased the maximum period for receiving the subsidy for an additional six months (from 9 to 15 months). Eligible individuals pay only 35 percent of their COBRA premiums, and the remaining 65 percent is reimbursed to the health coverage provider through a tax credit. Eligible individuals must have been involuntarily terminated from their jobs between September 1, 2008 and February 28, 2010. The premium reduction applies to periods of health coverage that began on or after February 17, 2009, and the premium reduction lasts for up to 15 months.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has a dedicated Web site that explains the COBRA extension (www.dol.gov/ebsa/cobra.html). To receive e-mailed updates from EBSA about any new information on their COBRA extension Web site (such as notification of the new documents translated into Spanish), enter your e-mail address at https://service.govdelivery.com/service/subscribe.html?code=USDOL_231.

ETA requests that One-Stop Career Centers and other recipients of this email review the information on this EBSA Web site dedicated to explaining this benefit to individuals who have lost their jobs in the current economic recession, and make available to individuals and employers any other relevant information from this EBSA Web site.

Some of the key links from the EBSA Web site follow (Spanish translations will be available soon).

I. Documents for Workers or Former Workers

• COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet
  (www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsCOBRApremiumreduction.html)
• Frequently Asked Questions on the COBRA Premium Reduction
  (www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-cobra-premiumreductionEE.html)
• COBRA poster in the format of a flyer
  ( www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/joblossposter2.pdf)
• COBRA flyer for individuals
  ( www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/cobrastimulusflyer2.pdf)
• COBRA flyer for individuals whose employer or health insurance plan denied them the COBRA premium reduction ( www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/distributionflyer09.pdf)
• Official application for DOL review for individuals whose employer or health insurance plan denied them the COBRA premium reduction (www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRA/main.html).
  The description will be updated soon; the current application can be used until then.

II. Documents for Employers

• COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet
  (www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsCOBRApremiumreduction.html)
• COBRA flyer for employers
  ( www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/cobrastimulusflyer1.pdf)
• Model Notices
  (www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRAmodelnotice.html)