Under the U.S. Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA), employers with 20 or more workers are required to offer a temporary extension of their sponsored health insurance plans for certain events, such as an employee losing a job. The state of Massachusetts' small group continuation of coverage law (Mini-COBRA) requires employers with fewer than 20 employees to offer this coverage extension.
Differences
The federal COBRA law and the Massachusetts Mini-COBRA law are similar but have some differences, aside from the size of the employer. For instance, COBRA covers self-funded health plans and group plans, but Massachusetts' Mini-COBRA does not cover self-funded plans.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Massachusetts Mini-COBRA coverage, an employee must experience one of several qualifying events. In the case of the death of the employee, the spouse and any dependent children would be eligible for Mini-COBRA benefits for 36 months. If an employee is terminated (other than cases of gross misconduct), he and his family are qualified for benefits for 18 months. Other cases qualifying for Mini-COBRA include reduction in the employee's hours, a divorce of legal separation and an employee becoming Medicare-eligible.
Notification
The Massachusetts Mini-COBRA law requires an employer to notify the employee and the employee's spouse that they are eligible for coverage at the time of the qualifying event.
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