CORBA Question

[Guest anevins]

:confused: I have a COBRA question. Here is the situation. An employer has received notice that his HMO plan is going out of business. So the employer cannot and is not going to renew with wth current HMO, obviously. He is going to move to a new HMO on the plan renewal date. Prior to changing plans and under his current HMO he offers part time employees working less than 30 hours per week HMO coverage. At renewal he is going to change the eligibility for enrollment into the the new HMO to 32 hour a week. Therefore, all part time employees who were previously eligilble are no longer eligible for coverage. None of the part time employees has seen a reduction or increase in their hours. None of the part time employees has terminated employment. They are pretty much staying status quo after the plan change at renewal. Now, here is my question. The only thing that has changed are the hours needed for eligibility. Does the raising of hours for eligibility which makes coverage not possible to part time employees at the renewal create a qualifying event? In other words, since there is no reduction or increase in part time employee hours and none of them have terminated after the new HMO is put into place does this create a qualifying event for them under COBRA? Both the former HMO and the new HMO say it does not cause a qualifying event. I tend to agree. What do you think?

Thanks, Ashley Nevins