COBRA NOTICE- who gets one?

[Guest freeh]

We recently terminated an employee. He, his spouse & dependents participated in the health plan. I am sending out a COBRA notice. Do I just send one to the former employee, or to each of his dependents & spouse?

Thanks.

[J Simmons]

If the EE, spouse and dependents all live at the same address--per the most recent address info available to the Plan Administrator and ER--then a single notice mailed to the EE and spouse at that address ought to do.

If the EE and spouse live at different addresses, then you must send notices to each of their separate, last known addresses.

If the Plan Administrator or ER have last known address for a dependent that differs from both the address for the EE and spouse, then another notice must be mailed to the dependent at the separate, last known address for that dependent.

A fail-safe is to keep last-known address info on each person covered, and mail a notice separately addressed to each--even if that means more are being mailed that might need to be per the foregoing rules.

[Guest Sieve]

John --

You suggest that a fail-safe for COBRA continuation is to send separate notices to each qualfied beneficiary covered under the group health plan, even if spouse and employee live at the same address. Do you think that the regs' requirement of an independent opportunity to elect continuation coverage ("[e]ach qualified beneficiary . . . must be offered the opportunity to make an independent election to receive COBRA continuation coverage." (Treas. Reg. Section 4980B-7, Q&A-6)) somehow mandates that due diligence ought to require each qualified beneficiary (except a minor child)--i.,e., both employee and spouse--to be sent a separate COBRA continuation notice, even if living at the same address? Or would that be just a cautionary approach for a due diligence conservative (like me)?

[J Simmons]

Good ERISA Antennae! How are the EE and spouse to know that they each have a separate election right from a single continuation notice/election just because it arrives in a jointly addressed envelope? Separate continuation notices/elections, arriving in separately addressed envelopes, communicates that notion much better.

[Guest Sieve]

Well, of course, a single Notice could adequately describe the separate election rights of both employee & spouse, and include multiple election forms, I suppose. What I am more concerned about, frankly, would be one spouse opening the letter, tossing it aside, and the other spouse not even seeing it and therefore not realizing the availability of COBRA continuation rights. So, primarily for that reason, I'd opt to send 2 separate notices to be safe.

[GBurns]

IMHO, each means every individual as a separate entity. Since I have to serve notice of a lawsuit separately to each individual party, I see it as a requirement to serve (notify) each person individually regarding their COBRA rights.

[TPApril]

The thread above deals with COBRA notices upon termination, but what about upon enrollment of an employee and spouse? Say the EE receives the notice upon employee orientation. When EE enrolls spouse, does a notice get generated and mailed to spouse's attention?