Cobra and Late Payments

[Guest carsant]

My sister was dropped from her health insurance under COBRA. She misunderstood the payment plan, and thought she was a month ahead on her payments, and so didn't pay for a month. She called the insurance company during the grace period because a bill had come back, which looked like they had refused to cover a procedure. They told her over the phone that everything was fine with her plan, and that the bill was a mistake, and they would fix it. She called her previous employer a week and a half later just to make sure there were no problems, and they told her that she had been dropped and could not be reinstated.

She never received any kind of notification that her payments were late, or that her coverage had been terminated. I have read in other places that no one is required to send such notifications, although many employers or administrators do. But I also saw that some proposed IRS regulations from 2003 would, if passed, have added a notification requirement.

My question is, does anyone know if these regulations were passed, or where I could find them? I would also appreciate any directions to information regarding this topic. Thanks in advance.