COBRA Laws in the State of California

When you leave a job or have another qualifying event, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) gives you and your covered spouse and dependent children the right to continue your employer's group health insurance plan for at least 18 months, if you pay the premium. However, this federal law applies only to employers with 20 or more employees. The State of California has a law called Cal-COBRA that applies to employers with two to 19 employees and also lets you keep health insurance coverage for up to 36 months.

Qualifying Events

• Getting health insurance coverage under Cal-COBRA has the same qualifying events as COBRA: your job ends or your hours are reduced, you divorce or legally separate from the person who has health insurance coverage or you are no longer that person's dependent child, or the person who has health insurance coverage enrolls in Medicare or dies.

Enrollment

• When a qualifying event occurs, the health plan administrator must send you a notice of your option to enroll in federal COBRA or Cal-COBRA. You have up to 60 days from the date of the notice to tell the health plan in writing that you want to sign up.

Considerations

• If you are eligible for federal COBRA, you must use it before you can use Cal-COBRA. Usually, federal COBRA is available to you for 18 months, although certain events, such as a divorce, allow COBRA coverage to last up to 36 months. If you had 18 months of COBRA coverage, you can then buy Cal-COBRA for up to another 18 months. However, if you had 36 months of COBRA coverage, you cannot get additional Cal-COBRA coverage.

When COBRA Ends

• Both COBRA and Cal-COBRA end if any of the following events occurs: You do not pay premiums on time, you become covered under another health insurance plan, you become eligible for Medicare, you move outside the health plan's service area or the employer no longer offers group health insurance.