What is COBRA Coverage?
The health status of a covered employee under the provisions plan may depend on the loss of an employee’s health insurance due to certain qualifying events such as death, legal separation, or divorce. In these situations, dependents, spouses, and employees who experience a reduction in work hours or job loss may also be able to temporarily extend their healthcare coverage if they would otherwise lose their benefits. The federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) allows certain family members and employees to continue their group health plan for a limited time period in these specific circumstances.
Depending on the circumstances, Massachusetts employers with 20 or more employees are only required to provide continuation coverage under COBRA for a maximum duration of 36 or 18 months. However, when serious life events such as the death or loss of a job occurred, it was crucial for the families and employees of the covered employee whose group health plans were terminated to win important federal COBRA benefits. This was before the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) was enacted, which enabled laid off or fired employees in Massachusetts to secure coverage from another source and avoid immediately losing their healthcare benefits.
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Massachusetts COBRA Continuation Coverage
Contact an experienced Massachusetts COBRA health insurance attorney today to discuss your right to continuation coverage. If you, your spouse, or your dependent children have lost your employer-sponsored healthcare coverage, you may choose to temporarily extend your group health insurance plan under the federal COBRA or Massachusetts state Mini-COBRA law. The state and federal COBRA continuation coverage laws in Massachusetts provide employees and their families who would lose their group health plan due to a serious life event the opportunity to continue their health benefits, typically at their own expense, for a limited period of time.
Massachusetts “Mini-COBRA” Continuation Benefits
Under circumstances where they would have otherwise lost their health benefits, businesses with between two and 19 employees are required to provide employees and their family members with a continuation of healthcare coverage for up to 12 months under Massachusetts’ Mini-COBRA law. Massachusetts also has a state law called the Massachusetts Mini-COBRA law, which permits a temporary continuation of health benefits for covered employees who work for small businesses, as well as their spouses and dependents. This applies if you are employed by a company with fewer than 20 employees and have lost your healthcare coverage due to a qualifying event.
Contact a Massachusetts COBRA Coverage Attorney Today
If you lose your healthcare coverage, it can be devastating, especially if you were fired from your job and the loss of benefits occurs. In certain specified circumstances, such as when you are legally separated from the employee who covered you or when there is a temporary extension of health benefits in order to cover the time between jobs, federal and state laws in Massachusetts give employees the right to temporarily extend their health benefits. This coverage can also occur if your employment ends for reasons other than gross misconduct, such as a reduction in work hours.