Continuation of Health Coverage through COBRA

For Employees
If you are the employee covered by a State of Ohio group health plan, you have the right to choose continuation coverage for yourself and your dependents for up to 18 months after any of the following events:

• Voluntary termination
• Hours of employment are reduced
• Your employment ends for any reason other than your gross misconduct

Your agency will provide you with a COBRA notification form upon your loss of coverage.

For Spouse
If you are the spouse of an employee covered by a state of Ohio group health plan, you have the right to choose continuation coverage for yourself up to 36 months if you lose group health coverage for any of the following reasons:

• Death of employee
• Divorce or legal separation from employee

For Dependents
If you are a dependent child of an employee covered by a state of Ohio group health plan, you have the right to choose continuation coverage for yourself for up to 36 months if you lose group health coverage for any of the following reasons:

• Death of employee
• Parents’ divorce or legal separation
• Depend child losing eligibility (such as reaching a limiting age, getting married, dropping out of college, etc.)

COBRA also provides for further extensions of coverage under certain circumstances. For example, an individual who is determined by the Social Security Administration to be disabled while on COBRA may be eligible for an additional 11 months of coverage (for a total of 29 months). When a “secondary even” such as the death of an employee occurs while the individual is on COBRA, the 18-month original coverage period may be extended to 36 months for survivors who are on the plan. All COBRA extension requests and questions should be directed to Benefits Administration Services at 614-466-0621.

Important Employee, Spouse and Dependent Notifcations Required
Under the federal law, the employee, spouse or other family member has the responsibility to notify the State of Ohio of a divorce, legal separation, or a child losing dependent status under the group health plan. This notice must be made within 60 days of the event or the date coverage ends in order to be eligible for COBRA continuation.

If this notification is not completed within the required 60-day notification period, rights to continuation coverage will be forfeited.

Notification should be made by contacting your agency's payroll/personnel officer. You may also request additional information from Benefits Administration Services at 800-409-1205.

Paying for COBRA Coverage
If you elect COBRA coverage, you must pay the total monthly premium (employer and employee shares) plus an additional two percent administrative surcharge.

No Coverage During Election Period
You will not be covered under the plan during the 60-day election period until an election is made to enroll in COBRA and applicable premiums are paid.

You may cancel your coverage at anytime. If you continue your health insurance under COBRA until the end of your COBRA period, you may be able to convert to a private billed-at-home policy with your same health insurance carrier. There is no conversion or private policy for dental or vision coverage.

Conversion to a Private Policy
If your COBRA coverage ends, you may have the option of converting your coverage to a private policy. Under this type of arrangement, you will be billed directly by your health care plan and you will be responsible for the entire cost. Contact your health plan to determine whether it offers a conversion policy and for information about continuing your health care coverage.

For more information on COBRA, visit the US Department of Labor’s Web site and type “COBRA” into the search field.