Very interesting. And yes, HR people make mistakes for sure. And even companies make mistakes in their employee handbooks. I decided to check our AI tool at Meta. Happily it got it right. And I learned something - I did not know that dependents losing coverage due to aging out are also eligible. Here's what Meta.ai reported when I shared the prompt:
COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) eligibility is not based on whether an employee leaves voluntarily or is terminated. Instead, it's primarily based on the following:
The employer has 20 or more employees.
The employee was covered by the employer's group health plan.
The employee experienced a qualifying event, which includes:
Voluntary resignation (quitting)
Termination (fired or laid off)
Reduced work hours
Divorce or separation from the covered employee
Dependent child reaching adulthood
If these conditions are met, the employee and their dependents are generally eligible for COBRA continuation coverage.
Under COBRA, employees who leave voluntarily are entitled to continue their employer-sponsored health insurance for up to 18 months (or 36 months for dependents in some cases).
It's recommended that you:
Review your company's COBRA policy.
Consult HR or benefits administration.
Contact the Department of Labor or a relevant state agency for guidance.
You may want to clarify this information with your former employer or HR representative.
"In addition to the above, the following is a qualifying event for a dependent child of a covered employee if it causes the child to lose coverage:
- Loss of dependent child status under the plan rules. Under the Affordable Care Act, plans that offer coverage to children on their parents' plan must make the coverage available until the adult child reaches the age of 26."
That is interesting. And my copy and paste from meta.ai did not do it justice - it was even easier to read with formatting and absolutely considered an equal situation.
I just voluntarily left my job at a tech company this past week and was offered COBRA. I didn’t label it as “retirement” because there’s no retirement benefits anyway. I’ve never heard of someone leaving a company voluntarily and not being offered COBRA.
In this case, I think the employer was well-intentioned. It’s unfortunate that we’ve made the world so complex where it is so much effort to do every day (or at leas every year) things like insurance. Taxes are another one of those things that can get so complex!
Very interesting. And yes, HR people make mistakes for sure. And even companies make mistakes in their employee handbooks. I decided to check our AI tool at Meta. Happily it got it right. And I learned something - I did not know that dependents losing coverage due to aging out are also eligible. Here's what Meta.ai reported when I shared the prompt:
COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) eligibility is not based on whether an employee leaves voluntarily or is terminated. Instead, it's primarily based on the following:
The employer has 20 or more employees.
The employee was covered by the employer's group health plan.
The employee experienced a qualifying event, which includes:
Voluntary resignation (quitting)
Termination (fired or laid off)
Reduced work hours
Divorce or separation from the covered employee
Dependent child reaching adulthood
If these conditions are met, the employee and their dependents are generally eligible for COBRA continuation coverage.
Under COBRA, employees who leave voluntarily are entitled to continue their employer-sponsored health insurance for up to 18 months (or 36 months for dependents in some cases).
It's recommended that you:
Review your company's COBRA policy.
Consult HR or benefits administration.
Contact the Department of Labor or a relevant state agency for guidance.
You may want to clarify this information with your former employer or HR representative.
Love that Meta AI got it right. I also like that Meta AI put the dependent child aging out as a parallel point to the others for easier reading! The source Department of Labor doc I linked in the post (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/cobra-continuation-health-coverage-consumer.pdf) made it somewhat of an aside:
"In addition to the above, the following is a qualifying event for a dependent child of a covered employee if it causes the child to lose coverage:
- Loss of dependent child status under the plan rules. Under the Affordable Care Act, plans that offer coverage to children on their parents' plan must make the coverage available until the adult child reaches the age of 26."
That is interesting. And my copy and paste from meta.ai did not do it justice - it was even easier to read with formatting and absolutely considered an equal situation.
I just voluntarily left my job at a tech company this past week and was offered COBRA. I didn’t label it as “retirement” because there’s no retirement benefits anyway. I’ve never heard of someone leaving a company voluntarily and not being offered COBRA.
Yes. I was so surprised about this, too. The good news is that the HR person admitted she was wrong and apologized.
That’s great to hear! We all need to feel we can question information provided by employers. They are not always transparent or consistent.
In this case, I think the employer was well-intentioned. It’s unfortunate that we’ve made the world so complex where it is so much effort to do every day (or at leas every year) things like insurance. Taxes are another one of those things that can get so complex!