COBRA/State Continuation Services now included AT NO ADDITIONAL COST in your membership as a Health Connections client

(Read below for instructions on activating this service)

Did you know that employees who are laid off, terminated or leave for almost any reason must be offered continuing insurance coverage (COBRA/State Continuation)? Failure to do so, or to do it properly, can result in costly penalties to employers. And Connecticut’s State Continuation Requirements apply to all health insurance plans sold in Connecticut, regardless of the number of employees insured.

As of Sept. 1, 2004, CBIA will no longer charge member companies a fee for COBRA/State Continuation Administration services. The 2% administrative fee allowed by law will be included only in the monthly premium bill that is sent to individuals who enroll for COBRA/State Continuation benefits, and it will be retained by CBIA.

At CBIA we understand that many of our smaller members just don’t have the time or the expertise to understand and comply with complicated COBRA regulations. Few companies do. So we’ve developed a program that makes meeting your state and federal continuing medical benefits obligations simple, reliable and for no cost.

CBIA’s COBRA/State Continuation program is available only to companies like yours, that are CBIA Health Connections or CBIA/Aetna customers. Because we already have and maintain the information required to administer your health insurance plans, we can offer you a cost-effective COBRA/State Continuation administration program that will take care of the many details required to stay in compliance with both federal and state laws. Initial and subsequent notification of eligibility, billing of qualified beneficiaries, premium collection and payment to carriers, even archiving and retrieval of COBRA/State Continuation records are all part of our comprehensive COBRA/State Continuation product.

Let CBIA take the worry out of establishing and maintaining your COBRA/State Continuation program. No matter what the size of your company, we’ll see to it that this difficult and complex job is done correctly and we’ll do it for free.

To activate this service, sign the signature sheet in CBIA COBRA/State Continuation Service Agreement package, and return it to CBIA. In addition, if you have former employees and dependents currently enrolled for COBRA/State Continuation, you’ll need to complete a Continuant Takeover Form, also included in the package.

Talk to your broker about CBIA’s COBRA/State Continuation, or call CBIA’s Tom Guerra at 860-244-1900. You can also e-mail Tom at guerrat@cbia.com

Testimonials

"CBIA COBRA has taken a lot of paperwork off my desk, and eliminates the need for me to be in tune with the constantly changing laws. Everything has been running smoothly since the implementation" - Mary Sing, Adeptra, Stamford, CT (client)

"Its great that CBIA is offering this ...we're a small company and the reason we signed up is that I am the only person here handling HR issues, and I never have had time to learn, let alone keep up with, the Federal COBRA regs and guidelines. This service is a real benefit to me." Concord Industries, Norwalk, CT (client)

Strength in numbers is the main idea behind CBIA's insurance and retirement plans. Because we have nearly 10,000 member businesses, we negotiate rates and features for you with the buying power of a very large company. And you'll see real innovation in our programs offering more choices for your employees and savings for your company. What's more, all of our programs are handled by your local insurance agent.