Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Cobra Insurance Coverage Premium Payment

At my old place of employ I elected COBRA coverage, I was carried an extra month longer than I wanted to be in that I did not pay for in April, and now they are asking me to pay for that month. Which is fine except they won't wait until December to receive payment (I just received notice today), and its $300. And if I don't pay it within 2 weeks they will backdate my insurance which means I have to pay for the ONE thing that went on my insurance in April which was a prescription for 2k. So I am wondering if it is legal for them to

backdate my insurance this late after they have already paid the

premium, since legally I owe the money to my company, not the

insurance company. I would ASSUME that since they have already paid the insurance company the premium for April that they can't just call and do that, but I am not as shady as the CFO at my old company.


Asked on 10/31/07, 9:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Merry Kogut Key Peninsula Law

Re: Cobra Insurance Coverage Premium Payment

The best thing you can do for an immediate and free answer is to contact the insurance commissioner's office: http://www.insurance.wa.gov/

I assume you've talked with both your company and the insuror?

COBRA is covered by federal law. It's possible you can find the answer to your question here: http://benefitslink.com/index.html

Best of luck. In the scheme of things, it'd be better to pay the $300 now - you'll still save $1700 on the prescription -- even if you have to borrow the money. You can sort it all out after you pay, but at least this way you won't have to pay the extra $1700.00

It's not worth hiring an attorney. I charge $200/hr and a lot of attorneys charge more than that.

Merry A. Kogut

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Answered on 10/31/07, 10:51 pm


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