The Fund’s eligibility system was designed to be fully compliant with federal COBRA regulations.
- When an employee retires, the Fund is not notified of that event until the employee actually stops working.
- The Fund extends coverage for one full month after the retirement date. For example, an employee that retires 8/15 will be covered until 9/30.
- The Fund is unable to generate COBRA forms before coverage ends, and we are unable to enroll a retiree in COBRA until the system terminates coverage.
Common questions:
Q: What if my coverage ends 9/30, and I have a dental appointment on 10/2? I will not have coverage on my appointment.
A: This is correct. However, the dental claim can be reprocessed once your COBRA is active and a payment for October is received.
Q: What if my dentist will not see me on 10/2 because I appear to be ‘inactive’?
A: The only option available in this case would be to submit this Request for COBRA Form to the Fund office with a payment. The Fund would hold this Request Form and payment in a ‘tickler file’ which is a manual process. We are unable to process the enrollment or the check until the system processing terminates coverage. When the system processing is completed in our office, we would enroll you in COBRA, process your payment and send you payment coupons to remit future payments.