Q. Do I have to offer COBRA to someone who wasn't on my health plan while employed?
Here is the second installment of our You Ask, We Answer series featuring some of the common questions our account managers answer every day.
They answer a lot of questions and we thought you might be interested in some of the same answers.
Here's Our Answer: No
Since the person waived your health benefits during employment and got their health insurance elsewhere, their termination is not a qualifying life event.
The DOL defines a qualifying event as "certain events that would cause an individual to lose health coverage."
Their coverage was not tied to their employment at your company so their termination should not affect their coverage and you are not required to offer them COBRA.
However, if you offer an HRA or medical FSA that is not tied to the underlying health plan, then those are subject to COBRA under certain circumstances.
Contact our team if you have more questions about your cobra compliance needs.