Cobra and President Obama
COBRA Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Congress has passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("the Act"), and the Act has been signed by President Obama. This communication describes the provisions in the Act that affect COBRA continuation coverage and similar state continuation coverage. Applicability and Effective Date The COBRA changes affect both the federal COBRA provisions and the Public Health Service Act program that provides similar extension benefits for public programs. In addition, however, the subsidy provisions apply to state continuation coverage that is comparable to federal COBRA. That would include so-called "mini-COBRA" state laws that cover groups below the 20 employee threshold for COBRA. To be comparable, the state continuation law must allow the individual to continue substantially similar coverage as was provided under the group health plan at a monthly cost that is based on a specified percentage of the gr...