Senate Finance Committee Approves COBRA Subsidy Measure

On Tuesday, January 27, 2009 the Senate Finance Committee approved a measure that would provide temporary federal COBRA insurance premium subsidies.

The Senate provision is more limited than COBRA changes approved last week by the House Ways and Means Committee, which is headed to a vote by the full House sometime this week.

January 28, 2009 · Categories: COBRA · Read article »

COBRA Expansion Approved by the House Ways and Means Committee January 22, 2009

Included in the $825 billion economic stimulus package is an expansion of COBRA continuation coverage.

Under the measure, H.R. 598, employees who stop working at age 55 could keep COBRA coverage until they were eligible for Medicare at age 65, regardless of the length of time they worked for the employer. Any employee who worked for an employer for at least 10 years could also keep COBRA until eligible for Medicare.

January 23, 2009 · Categories: COBRA · Read article »

Medicare Secondary Payer Mandatory Reporting Requirements for Health Reimbursement Arrangements

Section 111 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (MMSEA) has added new mandatory reporting requirements for group health plan arrangements. The definition of group health plan arrangements includes Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs). It does not include flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts.

As administrator for HRA plans, Discovery will be required to report information on a quarterly basis for all active covered individuals (HRA participants), as well as information about their spouse and dependents, to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Much of this information is not currently collected by Discovery, necessitating action on the part of employers to collect the required information from employees and submit this information to Discovery.

January 21, 2009 · Categories: General, HRA · Read article »