after resignation employee benefits

[Guest ghoss]

I have resigned from my work of four years and i haven't received any information of my benefits.It has been seven working days and noone seems to know that I have quit in our main office. One office says they sent it and one says they don't have it. My question is ...How long do they have to send me my final check and such.I have a family and no insurance and know we are able to receive Cobra...I resigned with two weeks notice but they didn't want me to stay..I signed all necessary paperwork to terminate my employment. This was not done on bad terms just to their surprise.

[Guest Heidi Siennicki]

I want to resign from my work. I have been reciving medical benefits for last two months and I have been working for the company for over a year. They did not include dental benefits, it was a mistake on my part or my employeer. My questions are:

1. If I am aligitable for COBRA plan.

2. Can I add dental plan after I resign from work to my Insurance.

[jeanine]

Your company has 14 days from the day you terminate employment (cease working, not just give notice) to send you COBRA election forms. You then have 30 days to accept or waive, and additional time to pay the first payment. The election form will state the premiums that are due.

Heidi--you can't receive COBRA for benefits you were not receiving before you terminated. You would have to add the dental before you quit, if that is possible.

As far as COBRA eligibility, your company must employ at least 20 employees to even have to offer COBRA. Check the SPD or any other health plan information you received from your employer. There are also certain state rights to continuation policies you may have if the employer does not have to offer COBRA. You both may want to check the insure.com website. They have a good article written for the lay person that explains COBRA well.

[Guest nac]

Correction to jeanine's message above:

You have 60 days in which to elect COBRA coverage, not 30. You then have an additional 45 days in which to make your first payment(s), which is retro to the first month of COBRA benefits.

[jeanine]

nac, you are absolutely right. We do 3rd party administration of COBRA and my 30 day resonse was a confusion of our time limit to send notices with the election time frame. My apologies to Heidi and ghoss, nac is correct as far as your election time frame.

[Guest Karen Templeton]

My husband was asked to resign from his company at the end of December. We have not heard anything about Cobra insurance. Who do I contact?

[Guest DoctorZen]

Per the current COBRA Q & A, it is determined that COBRA recipients have the same rights as current employees, so dental can be added during open enrollment while on COBRA.