3 areas where compliance experience can set you apart as a COBRA administrator

COBRA rules and regulations are a lot for employers to manage daily, let alone under special circumstances (like the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, or ARPA).

If you’re a COBRA administrator, your COBRA experience can help your clients save time, stay compliant, and help participants successfully transition to COBRA or opt for a COBRA alternative. Here are three areas in which your compliance experience can set you apart.

Offering COBRA to qualified beneficiaries at the right time

As a federally regulated benefit, employers need to know whether they’re required to offer COBRA — and who is eligible for this coverage.

Employers usually need to offer COBRA if they had a headcount of 20+ employees on more than 50% of business days in the previous calendar year. When an employee loses their group health plan coverage due to a qualifying event, they (and others who were covered by their plan) are typically eligible for COBRA.

There are seven types of qualifying events, and employers have 30 days to notify their plan administrator that a qualifying event has occurred. And within 14 days of notification, their plan administrator must mail a Specific Rights Notice (SRN) to the individual who is now eligible for COBRA.

Not only can your expertise provide a streamlined experience for clients, but you can empower them with education through compliance webinars, articles, and FAQs.

Managing COBRA open enrollment

Open enrollment for traditional employee benefits is already a busy time for employers. From preparation to execution, open enrollment may involve:

• Using benefit analytics to make strategic benefits package adjustments
• Making enhancements to their communication strategy
• Tracking OE performance metrics to measure success

…just to name a few responsibilities. COBRA open enrollment can add complexity, because there are two types of open enrollment (active and passive), communication is being made to members who aren’t on the worksite, and employers who are required to offer COBRA must offer the same health plans that are available to your active employees (as long as those plans are COBRA-eligible).

An integrated support experience that combines powerful tools for benefits OE and COBRA education for newly-qualified beneficiaries can dramatically lighten the workload of your clients’ HR team.

Avoiding penalties for non-compliance

Employers are at risk of potential penalties when they don’t meet federally mandated COBRA deadlines, which could include sending general rights notices and COBRA election notices within the required time window. There are other potential areas where inexperience can show, such as: 

• Not realizing a group health plan is subject to COBRA
• Overlooking applicable state COBRA laws
• Charging incorrect COBRA premiums 

Your experience as a COBRA administrator can give your clients less to worry about when it comes to processes and even costs.

Would you like to differentiate your COBRA solution?

Several factors go into differentiating your solution in the market. Make sure your website clearly communicates the value of your offering and your unique experience as a COBRA administrator. Explore how products like non-discrimination testing and benefit analytics from WEX can help you go to market with a stronger offering.

If you’re not currently a WEX partner, our platform can help you simplify COBRA administration with automatically-generated letters, integrated billing and payment processing, a postmark date-aware lockbox service, and more.

The information in this blog post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or tax advice. For legal or tax advice, you should consult your own counsel.