Employers Must Find and Tell Laid-off Employees of Health Subsidies

Before May 31, 2021, employers must notify certain former employees that they may be entitled to free health care coverage under recent federal legislation. The new law provides fully subsidized coverage through COBRA from April 1 through September 30, 2021 for employees who were laid off or lost their job-based health coverage due to reduced hours during the COVID-19 pandemic. The notice must be provided to people who were first eligible to elect coverage from October 2019 to the present, even if the people did not elect COBRA coverage or dropped COBRA coverage. 

The Department of Labor has issued model notices that employers can use and has provided questions and answers that employers may have. The notices and other guidance can be found at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/laws/cobra/premium-subsidy.

This is part of our June 2021 Newsletter.

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