Employee failed to return COBRA election notice, but premium payment received

[Guest benefitsnewbie]

We provided a former employee a COBRA notice with wording along the lines of "you must complete and return this form by the due date shown, or you will lose your right to elect COBRA continuation coverage."

We have a copy of the mailed notice, and proof of mailing and delivery (USPS deliver confirmation).

We never received an election notice from the former employee, but did receive a check for 3-months of premium payments from the State Office of Health Services (state medicaid). The check itself makes no reference to the former employee's name , and was mailed to our company's old address and not discovered until much later. The only reference on the check connecting it to the employee beneficiary is his PPO plan ID # written in the "memo" section of the check. The former employee has provided no evidence of timely mailing of the election notice.

My question is whether the former employee should be reinstated for COBRA coverage or has he not properly elected COBRA coverage?

The check was received within the first 60 days of the Election Notice mailing, so it was delivered well within the the 60 days+45 days election+premium payment period.

Thank you!

[Guest matthew222]

I would recommend getting an answer from your COBRA administrator on this one and let them be on the hook. To me, sending in a payment for several months of premium signals a notice by the employee wishing to continue his or her benefits under COBRA. The fact that the check was mailed to an old company address and handled by a third party makes it fairly difficult for you to prove what the ex-employee did or didn't send in.

[jpod]

If the individual himself/herself sent in the check, I probably wouldn't take a risk and I would accept the check as an "election." However, the individual did not send in the check. Is there any way that the State Medicaid office could have elected COBRA on behalf of this individual? I would look into this question first, and if the answer is "no" I would feel more comfortable denying COBRA.

[Guest Hellolost]

I would start his Cobra coverage. However, I would contact him and let him know that you need all the correct paperwork on file in order to be compliant. You also need let him know that you recieved the check even though it was sent to the incorrect address. That way he also knows he needs to fix that.