The Consolidated Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) provides that under certain
circumstances participants and beneficiaries of group health plans
that satisfy the definition of qualified beneficiaries under
COBRA may elect to continue group health coverage temporarily
following events known as qualifying events that would otherwise
result in loss of coverage. COBRA provides that the Secretary of
Labor (the Secretary) has the authority under section 608 of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to carry
out the provisions of Part 6 of title I of ERISA. The Conference
Report that accompanied COBRA authorized the Secretary to issue
regulations implementing the notice and disclosure requirements of
COBRA. Under the regulatory guidelines, plan administrators are
required to distribute notices as follows: a general notice to be
distributed to all participants in group health plans subject to
COBRA; an employer notice that must be completed by the employer
upon the occurrence of a qualifying event; a notice and election
form to be sent to a participant upon the occurrence of a
qualifying event that might cause the participant to lose group
health coverage; an employee notice that may be completed by a
qualified beneficiary upon the occurrence of certain qualifying
events such as divorce or disability; and, two other notices, one
of early termination and the other a notice of unavailability. Also
included in the ICR are two model notices that the Department
believes will help reduce costs for service providers in preparing
and delivering notices to comply with the regulations. On February
17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Public Law 111-5. ARRA includes a
requirement that the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary), in
consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Health and
Human Services, develop model notices. These models are for use by
group health plans and other entities that, pursuant to ARRA, must
provide notices of the availability of premium reductions and
additional election periods for health care continuation
coverage.
US Code:
29
USC 1166 Name of Law: Employee Retirement Income Security
Act
The biggest adjustment to this
to the PRA burden is removal of the AARA COBRA notification
requirements. Congress did not extend the ARRA COBRA subsidy
program; therefore, the Department estimates that no additional
notices will be issued to affected individuals and no hour or cost
burden will be incurred by the affected entities. Most of the other
adjustments to the PRA burden are relatively minor and are due to
updates in costs (both labor and mailing), the use of more recent
data to reflect shifts in demographics and insurance coverage, and
the absence of start-up costs. Hourly labor costs actually declined
since the last PRA, due to the absence of start-up costs and the
hourly rate of an administrative assistant in the DC-metro area
being substantially lower ($25 per hour as compared to $34 per
hour) than previously reported. In addition, the previous PRA
assumed a much lower termination rate (less than half) for insured
workers than recent data indicates is appropriate. Adjusting this
assumption more than doubled the number of Employer Notices and
increased Plan Administrator Election Notices by roughly fifty
percent. Finally, the previous PRA mistakenly included only small
plan participants in its statement regarding the number of
participants subject to COBRA notification. This error did not
affect any of the subsequent calculations.
$0
No
No
No
Uncollected
Yes
Uncollected
Chris Cosby 202
693-8540
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
SSCOBRA10renewal.doc
COBRA Notification Requirements--American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as amended by Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010