N.C. law extends COBRA enrollment - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The law extends the enrollment periodf to 120 days from60 days. The often called “mini-COBRA,” will ultimately allow employees to receivre the federalstimulus package’s 65 percent COBRA premium Laid-off personnel must have worked at smalk businesses with fewer than 20 “Because of this legislation and the federak premium subsidy, more North Carolinianws who have been laid off will be able to maintaijn their insurance coverage,” says N.C. Insurance Commissioner Waynwe Goodwin.
“We hear from a lot of consumerzs who unfortunately have chosen not to extend theie coverage through COBRAor mini-COBR because it is simply too expensivr or they missed the electionm period.” COBRA gives workerws and their families the option to continue group healthg benefits for limited periods of time unde r certain circumstances. Under federal law, COBRA generally applies to companies with 20 ormore employees, and workers may be chargerd up to 102 percent of the full healtn insurance premium.
Insurance companies of small employersx — those who have fewer than 20 employeee — are required to offer continuation coveraged underNorth Carolina’s Group Health Insurance Continuatiobn laws. The federal stimulus packagre contains two provisions that expand the benefita available to employees whose jobs havebeen eliminated. It extende the election period for eligiblwe employees to determine whether they wish to enroll in the federalCOBRA program. The new N.C. law provides the same extendexd election periodfor mini-COBRA in North Carolina.
The federal packagre also provides a subsidy that pays for 65 percenr of the premium for both COBRAand mini-COBRwA recipients who were laid off between 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009. Depending on the size of the formed employer, either the employer or the insurancer provider fronts 65 percent of the premium amounr and then recoups that expense througn federal payrolltax credits. Workers are responsible for the remainint 35 percent ofthe premium.