COBRA premiums: Independent QB rights vs. "Bundled" Premiums

[Guest Rob Cochran]

I'm somewhat confused about the premium for a former spouse of a former employee. The spouse elected COBRA when he and his wife (the employee) got divorced. At the time, the wife was still enrolled as an active employee. The insurance company continued to bill us for the two of them as Employee plus Spouse. (FYI - plan bundles rates for active employees, i.e. Emplpoyee only = $170.40, Employee & Spouse = $378.90). Recently, however, the employee terminated and did not elect COBRA for herself. The plan is now charging us individually for the husband at the $208.50. My question is, since he is a QB and no-longer "bundled" with the employee, shouldn't his rate be the same as a similarly situated "unbundled" QB ($170.40)?