Friday, April 9, 2021
Less than a month after the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law, new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) guidance and model forms are clearing up a number of employer concerns about the 100 percent COBRA coverage subsidy for continuing health benefits that runs from April 1, 2021, to September 30, 2021.
Though employers still await COBRA premium subsidy regulations, including guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on claiming reimbursements, on April 7, 2021, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued guidance in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQs), which provides clarity in certain areas.
Along with the FAQs, the EBSA also published several model COBRA notices:
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As we discussed in a previous article, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), provided premium assistance and an extended election period under COBRA and similar state laws for “assistance eligible individuals” (AEIs). Employers were required to provide certain notices to individuals regarding the premium assistance and extended election period, and the Department of Labor (DOL) was directed to issue model notices for such purposes. The DOL has now issued the model notices and has provided some further guidance on these provisions of the ARP. Employers must now expeditiously review these model notices, adapt them as necessary, and establish administrative processes for completing and furnishing the notices.
As detailed in our March 17
Alert, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) provides
for a temporary 100 percent COBRA subsidy for eligible individuals
whose qualifying event was an involuntary termination of employment
or reduction in hours. The subsidy under the ARP is in effect from
April 1, 2021, through September 30, 2021.
The ARP makes the subsidy available for Assistance
Eligible Individuals. An assistance eligible individual is a
COBRA-qualified beneficiary who meets the following requirements
during the period from April 1 through September 30, 2021:
Is eligible for COBRA continuation coverage by reason of a
qualifying event that is a reduction in hours or an involuntary
termination of employment; and
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Seyfarth Synopsis: As discussed in our March 11, 2021 Alert, Congress has made another avenue of health coverage more accessible by fully subsidizing the cost of COBRA coverage from April 1 - September 30, 2021 for individuals who lost their health coverage due to an involuntarily termination or a reduction in hours under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). On April 7, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) published FAQs to further explain this COBRA subsidy and provided models of the required related notices.
Notable Points from the FAQs
Eligibility Based on Reduction in Hours. The FAQs take an expansive view on when a reduction in hours constitutes a qualifying event (clarifying that “involuntary” does not modify the reduction in hours trigger), stating that the following situations are covered: “reduced hours due to change in a business’s hours of operations, a change from full-time to part-time s
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 contains several new rules impacting COBRA benefits. The ARPA provides up to six months of free COBRA coverage for eligible individuals, a special COBRA enrollment and coverage period for such individuals, and new notice obligations.