Can healthcare provider pay COBRA premium?

[Guest ronc]

Is it possible that a hospital be allowed to pay the COBRA premium for a patient who is eligible for COBRA (either during the election period or during a payment period) so that the hospital stay would be covered by the COBRA medical plan - rather than the patient having no coverage at all?

If this is possible, I would appreciate any direction to find a legal basis.

tks

[Sandra Pearce]

I believe the final regulations addressed this. A third party can pay premium on behalf of a COBRA QB.

[Guest FAQ]

See the preamble to Treas. Reg. §54.4980B, 64 Fed. Reg. 5160, 5170 (1999).

In the preamble, the IRS concluded that nothing in the statute requires the qualified beneficiary to be the payor -- the statute merely allows the plan to require that payment be made, and any person can make the required payment on behalf of a qualified beneficiary.