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COBRA Health Insurance: Florida

The Federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, provides employees with continued health care coverage in cases of involuntary layoff or termination from a job. Florida's COBRA regulations extend federal benefits in cases where employers or workplaces do not fall within the guidelines set under federal law. Eligible recipients can purchase continued coverage for a limited period of time.

  1. Federal COBRA Law

    • COBRA law was enacted in 1985 as a federal requirement imposed on employers to provide continued health insurance coverage to employees who lose their eligibility for group health coverage. As group health insurance coverage can cost considerably less than individual plans and have minimal eligibility requirements, employees who lose group health coverage can have difficulty finding or affording needed insurance coverage. Federal COBRA law specifically applies for employers who offer group health coverage and have 20 or more employees. As many employers or businesses fail to meet the 20-or-more-employees requirement, many states -- such as Florida -- enact additional laws to cover employers who fall outside of federal requirements.

    Florida Health Insurance Coverage Continuation Act

    • The Florida Health Insurance Coverage Continuation Act, also known as Mini-COBRA, sets COBRA coverage laws for employers who have 20 or fewer employees or employers who fall outside of federal COBRA guidelines, according to COBRAHealthInsurance.com, a COBRA health insurance reference site. Mini-COBRA guidelines require employers to provide 18 months of continued coverage under their group health plan, which matches the federal requirement for employers with 20 or more employees. Mini-COBRA guidelines extend this requirement to 29 months in the case of disabled employees. Mini-COBRA differs from federal requirements in that employees have 30 days from the date of separation from an employer to accept continued health coverage. Former employees who opt for Mini-COBRA coverage must also work directly with the insurance provider rather than go through their former employer.

    Qualifying Events

    • Under Florida's COBRA guidelines, qualifying events represent the conditions that must be present in order for an employee to qualify for COBRA coverage. COBRA coverage extends to employee spouses and dependents, so certain qualifying events also pertain to spouses and dependents. For employees, qualifying events include voluntary or involuntary termination or a reduction in work hours that results in the loss of group health coverage. For spouses, qualifying events include divorce or legal separation, employee death, the employee becoming eligible for Medicare coverage, employee termination or reduced work hours. For dependents, qualifying events include loss of dependent child status in addition to any of the conditions that pertain to employees and spouses.

    Lengths of Coverage

    • Florida COBRA laws set minimum and maximum lengths of continued health coverage for eligible employees based on the date of a particular qualifying event. Lengths of coverage apply for employee spouses and dependents. Coverage lengths can run anywhere from a minimum of 18 months to a maximum of 36 months, according to COBRAHealthInsurance.com. People with disabling conditions can receive 11 month extensions, provided coverage does not exceed the 36 month maximum. In cases where an employer cancels an existing group health plan and replaces it with another, eligible employees become eligible for the remainder of their allotted coverage period under the new group health plan.

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