DOL Releases COBRA Model Notices with Updated Expiration Dates

Author: Jessica Webb-Ayer, XpertHR Legal Editor

February 19, 2020

The Department of Labor (DOL) has updated its model Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notices to include a new expiration date of January 1, 2023. The forms impacted are:

  • The COBRA Model General Notice; and
  • The COBRA Model Election Notice.

Group health plans are required to provide employees and their spouses with a general notice that describes their COBRA rights. This notice must be provided to participants within 90 days after they become covered under the plan. The DOL makes the COBRA Model General Notice available for use by single-employer group health plans to satisfy the law's general notice content requirements.

There is also another notice requirement related to electing COBRA coverage. Within 14 days of receiving a notice of a qualifying event, a group health plan must provide qualified beneficiaries with a COBRA election notice describing their rights to continuation coverage and information on how to make an election. Group health plans may use the COBRA Model Election Notice to satisfy this notice obligation.