If you offer Group Health Insurance or Employee Benefits at your company, there is always the issue of COBRA to contend with. If you have under 20 TOTAL employees, that includes part timers, your Health Insurance carrier will take care of it, most likely.
If you have 20 or more employees total….LISTEN UP!! There is a ton of risk associated with COBRA and it’s administration. Oh, I didn’t tell you…..if you are the owner of a company with at least 20 employees YOU are the COBRA administrator, and YOU have the fiduciary responsibility……NOT the insurance company.
Even though the insurance company says they will do it for you, which they may, YOU are ultimately responsible if there is a mess up, NOT the insurance company. COBRA penalties and fines are similar to OSHA. Unless you’ve “assigned” responsibility to a TPA (third party administrator), you are still on the hook.
At Brauer Insurance one of our services is that WE pay for our TPA to administer your COBRA. This relieves the company of ALL responsibility of:
1) New employee notification and mailing
2) Handling any terminations or people leaving the company, certified notification, archiving, etc…..
3) Handling the payments and coordinating with the Health Insurance company if the employee elects COBRA.
You do not handle anything! And better yet, no liability, and having to notify people by certified mail, etc. WE handle if for you….free!!
I acquired one company a few years ago that attempted to administer the COBRA themselves because their broker didn’t offer that service and the company did not want to pay for a TPA. After many months, and attorney costs, the company settled a claim for almost $10,000 on behalf of a former employee that claimed they were never notified about COBRA. This is NON ISSUE when you have a TPA handling it for you. They assume all liabilities associated with COBRA. When I was presenting a quote to this group, they found out that Brauer Insurance handles all the COBRA, at no cost to them….I became their broker the next week!
Brauer Insurance believes that by “giving back” to our employer groups in the form of extra services, everyone is happy. The employers are ecstatic, we make a good commission, and everybody sleeps good at night, knowing they are covered!
Steve Brauer-President, Brauer Insurance Services LLC. (408) 421-5555