A Company’s Guide to the Model COBRA Initial Notice and Model COBRA Election Notice
Organizations with 20 or more employees are legally obligated to offer benefits according to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA).
This means offering ongoing group health insurance coverage to some employees and their family members after a job loss because of employment termination or another qualifying event, like a reduction of hours.
Complying with COBRA requires specific steps from companies, including providing certain information to affected individuals. For many organizations, the model COBRA initial notice (also called the general notice) and the model COBRA election notice can be helpful tools to make sure they’re staying in compliance.
How should your organization be using these notices? Let’s take a closer look.
When are Employers Required to Provide the COBRA Initial Notice?
Employers, known as “health plan sponsors” in this context, are legally required to comply with the rules set forth by COBRA for offering and providing continued group health insurance coverage.
These health plan sponsors are required to provide general information about COBRA to covered employees when their status changes. This is referred to as the COBRA initial notice (or general notice).
When are Employers Required to Provide the COBRA Election Notice?
Once an employee’s status changes, such as through termination or drastic reduction of hours, a health plan sponsor that is subject to COBRA requirements must notify its group health plan administrator within the first following 30 days.
Within 14 days of that notification, the plan administrator must notify the employee of his or her COBRA rights. This is referred to as the COBRA election notice.
In some cases, the health plan sponsor (employer) also serves as the plan administrator. If so, they must issue COBRA notices directly, and the employer then has the complete 44-day period to issue the COBRA election notice.
What is a model COBRA notice?
The DOL provides a model COBRA initial notice and a model COBRA election notice online in an easily customizable form. These can serve as templates for providing these two notices.
Plan administrators and health plan sponsors can fill in the blanks of these models with their own information to create their own relevant notices.
Organizations are not required to use the COBRA model notices when issuing information, but the DOL considers notices created in this way to be in compliance with COBRA requirements, so using the model notices can be an incredibly effective way to meet the standards placed on your organization.
The DOL recently extended the expiration date of the model COBRA initial notice and the model COBRA election notice to January 31, 2026. You can access the model notices here:
How Would My Company Use the COBRA Model Notices?
The model notices make providing required information simpler, but there are specific steps your company needs to take in order to use them effectively:
1. Read and Remove the Notice Instruction Page
The first page of the model COBRA initial notice contains basic details about the notice and information about the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 for the use of the plan sponsor, which should be removed before you send it.
2. Edit Document Title
The title within the documents of both model notices indicates that it is the model notice, which is “For use by single-employer group health plans.” Edit this section accordingly to re-title the document before sending.
3. Read Notice and Fill in Blanks With Relevant Information
Read the model COBRA initial notice, and scan for blanks to complete with your relevant information. These blanks are indicated with brackets and italics within the document.
To complete the blanks within the COBRA model notices, your organization will need information about the following:
For COBRA Initial Notice
- Whether or not qualified beneficiaries are required to pay for COBRA continuation coverage
- Whether or not your plan provides retiree health coverage
- Information about qualifying events
- Time period for giving notice
- The name and contact information of the appropriate party to whom notice must be sent
- Description of any additional Plan procedures for this notice
- Information about providing a disability extension notice
- Description of any additional Plan procedures for this notice
- The name and contact information of the appropriate party to whom notice must be sent
- Time period for giving notice
- Plan contact information
- Name of the Plan and name
- Address and phone number of party or parties from whom information about the Plan and COBRA continuation coverage can be obtained on request
For COBRA Election Notice
- Name or status of recipients
- Name of group health plan
- Date that coverage under the plan will end
- Reason why coverage under the plan will end
- Dates that COBRA continuation coverage would begin and end
- Available coverage options, if applicable
- Name of party responsible for COBRA administration and contact information
- Amount each qualified beneficiary will be required to pay for each option per month of coverage and any other permitted coverage periods
- Details for submission of election form, including date and method
- Due date for each monthly payment, whether or not Plan offers other payment schedules and those dates
- Any grace period permitted by Plan and whether or not Plan suspends coverage for nonpayment during grace period
- Appropriate payment address
4. Prepare Notice for Sending
Once blanks within the notice have been filled in, you can edit the presentation if you like (fonts, colors, etc.). Once you are pleased with the presentation, convert the document into a format that isn’t editable before sending, like a PDF.
5. Send to Qualifying Beneficiaries
What if an Employer Fails to Send a COBRA Initial or Election Notice?
Since COBRA is a federal law, it’s imperative that employers are compliant to observe this law and provide proper administration on behalf of all COBRA recipients for whom they are responsible.
The administrative responsibilities include:
- Sending COBRA model general and model election notices
- Managing enrollment
- Receiving and processing premium payments
Noncompliance could result in hefty fines to your company, and if employers don’t offer COBRA or fail to comply with their COBRA administrative responsibilities, employees may sue. In such cases, the court may charge the employer attorney fees if the beneficiary wins the case.
What Can You Do to Ensure COBRA Notice Compliance?
COBRA features layers of complexity that many organizations find daunting. If your company needs more guidance about issuing the COBRA initial notice or COBRA election notice, let us know how we can help. Our qualified HR professionals understand the intricacies of a wide range of compliance matters.
Contact us to learn more about the model COBRA initial notice and the model COBRA election notice and anything else we can do to support your organization.
