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COBRA and TerminationsCOBRA Policies: the following policies are in accordance with state and federal laws. a. COBRA will only be offered to individuals of groups that are currently enrolled and active in JPET
b. All employers participating in JPET are required to offer COBRA to their employees. JPET is a multiple employer group that qualifies as a COBRA eligible employer.
c. JPET provides notification for COBRA processing to United Healthcare provided services ONLY. This includes medical, dental and vision. All benefits contracted through other carriers are subject to notification by the agent of record or school.
d. Processing can take up to 14 business days – please allow for this time to lapse before contacting JPET or COBRA for inquiries on specific enrollees
e. Please allow an additional 3-5 business days for mailed delivery of enrollment packets
f. All schools currently participating in JPET, are now required by law to pay upfront for all terminated employees’ COBRA premiums. Here’s how the process works:
i. Any employee that has been terminated after September 1, 2008 will receive COBRA notification from JPET’s third party administrator. If the employee believes that they qualify for the COBRA subsidy, they will need to fill out a request. View a sample here.
ii. If the employee chooses to elect for COBRA continued coverage, one of two situations will apply:
a. The employee was voluntarily terminated:
i. If the employee left on their own terms, they will be required to pay 102% of their current premium to the third party COBRA administrator.
ii. This individual will continue to show up on the JPET group plan bill received from United Healthcare.
iii. This charge will be passed on to the school. The school will reimburse JPET, who will pay the group premium for the employee listed on the invoice. This process is in place to eliminate any unnecessary contact between the school and the prior employee.
iv. The school will then be reimbursed 100% of the premium paid by UHC Specialty Benefit services (third party COBRA administrator).
b. The employee was involuntarily terminated:
i. If the employee qualifies for the subsidy, they will be required to pay only 35% of their current premium to the third party COBRA administrator.
ii. This individual will continue to show up on the JPET group plan bill received from United Healthcare.
iii. This charge will be passed on to the school. The school will reimburse JPET, who will pay the group premium for the employee listed on the invoice. This process is in place to eliminate any unnecessary contact between the school and the prior employee.
iv. The school will then be reimbursed 35% of the premium paid by UHC Specialty Benefit services (third party COBRA administrator). The other 65% will be filed on the school’s Quarterly Form 941 for a payroll tax deduction.
iii. PLEASE NOTE: The third party administrator can only have ONE address on file for each school. All reimbursements must go to the same place, and they cannot differentiate based on the value of the premium reimbursed. Therefore, all COBRA employee premiums must be passed on to the school for ease of administration.
Because of this change, effective March 1, 2009, JPET will invoice all COBRA participants’ insurance premiums directly to the schools. This includes individuals eligible for COBRA due to any other ‘qualifying’ event (e.g. loss of prior coverage). The school will then be responsible to work with their accounting service provider to determine the applicable payroll tax credit and disbursement receipt from UnitedHealthcare. A detailed explanation and pictorial of the process is below:  COBRA Administrator Contact Information:
Business Hours: 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Central Time) Employers: cobraprocessing@uhcservices.com
Telephone: (800) 318-5311 |