If you lose your eligibility for Tenneco group health care coverage (such as medical, dental, vision, Health Care FSA), you may have a right to temporarily continue your coverage, at your own cost, as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA).
Alternatively, you can choose another health coverage that may be available to you through the Health Insurance Marketplace. The extension of coverage to team members and their enrolled eligible dependents is called “COBRA continuation coverage.”
In general, COBRA coverage is the same as the coverage in which you and your eligible dependents were enrolled as an active employee on the day before the qualifying event (listed below). If you elected “no coverage” as an active employee, you would not be eligible for any COBRA continuation coverage.
Qualifying events
To be eligible for COBRA continuation coverage, a qualifying event must take place. After the qualifying event, COBRA continuation coverage must be offered to each person who is a COBRA continuation coverage beneficiary. You, your enrolled spouse/domestic partner, your enrolled children, and your domestic partner’s enrolled children could become COBRA continuation coverage beneficiaries if coverage under the active employee plan is lost because of one of these qualifying events.
| Maximum Continuation Period | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Events That Result in Loss of Coverage | Employee | Spouse/Domestic Partner | Child |
| Employee’s reduction of work hours (for example, full-time to part-time) | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months |
| Employee’s termination of employment for any reason | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months |
| Employee or employee’s covered Spouse/Domestic Partner or dependent child is disabled (as determined by the Social Security Administration) at the time of the qualifying event, or becomes disabled within the first 60 days of COBRA continuation coverage that begins as a result of termination of employment or reduction of work hours | 29 months | 29 months | 29 months |
| Employee dies | N/A | 36 months | 36 months |
| Employee and Spouse legally separate or divorce | N/A | 36 months | 36 months |
| Employee and Domestic Partner terminate the Domestic Partnership | N/A | 36 months | 36 months |
| Employee becomes entitled to Medicare within 18 months before termination of employment or reduction in work hours (even if such Medicare entitlement was not a qualifying event for the covered Spouse/Domestic Partner or dependent child because their coverage was not lost) | N/A | 36 months* | 36 months* |
| Child no longer qualifies as a dependent child under the terms of the plan | N/A | N/A | 36 months |
| *36 month period is counted from the date the employee becomes entitled to Medicare. | |||
Disability extension
An additional 11-month extension of coverage may be available if any one of the qualified beneficiaries is determined by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to be disabled. You must provide proof of eligibility to the COBRA administrator within 60 days of receiving the notice requesting it.
Cost of COBRA coverage
Your cost for COBRA coverage is the full cost of coverage to the plan—that is, the amount you pay for coverage plus the Tenneco’s contribution to the cost—with a 2% administrative fee added. If you become disabled while you are receiving COBRA coverage, you pay 150% of the full premium cost for the additional 11 months of continuation coverage you become eligible for because of your disability.
Note, should you elect COBRA continuation coverage, your coverage will be reinstated after you return your election information and premium payment to HealthEquity, effective back to your date of termination.
When COBRA coverage ends
COBRA continuation coverage ends on the date the earliest of the following occurs:
- The premium for coverage is not paid in a timely manner;
- After electing COBRA continuation coverage, the qualified beneficiary becomes covered under another group health plan;
- After electing COBRA continuation coverage, the qualified beneficiary enrolls for Medicare;
- If coverage is extended on account of disability, the Social Security Administration makes a determination that the individual is no longer disabled; or
- Tenneco no longer provides group health coverage to any of its employees.
