COBRA under a group health policy where there are no longer any employ

[jeanine]

Have been dealing with an awful lot of COBRA questions lately....

I need some help recalling what I think is correct in this situation. An employer provides benefits to its employees through the purchase of several group health insurance policies. Due to layoffs, there are no longer any current employees covered under one of the policies, just terminated employees who want coverage. Employer wants them to continue COBRA through this policy. Insurance company says "no" because minimum participation by active employees is not met, therefore the policy is cancelled. Shouldn't the terminated employees be receiving COBRA through any of the policies that are still in effect?

[RTK]

The initial focus should be on the employer's group health plan.

The cobra obligation ceases when the employer (controlled group) ceases to provide any group health plan to any employee. Thus, if the employer does not maintain any group health plans, cobra does not have to continue.

However, if the employer has a group health plan for any employees, the cobra obligation continues. The issue of how to provide the cobra benefits is a different issue. What obligation the insurance company has depends upon the terms of the policy, and perhaps, the guaranteed renewal provisions of state law, HIPAA?