Crossing twenty employees brings federal COBRA continuation into play.
Home care agencies grow quickly, and the headcount that triggers continuation coverage rules is easy to pass without anyone noticing.
The threshold is quiet. The obligation is not.
What Is Actually True
Federal COBRA generally applies to group health plans of employers with twenty or more employees. Part-time workers count toward that number in a way many agency owners do not expect.
Once the agency is covered, a caregiver who leaves can be entitled to elect continuation coverage, and the agency has notice and timing duties that go with it.
What We Do About It
We help you check where your headcount sits against the threshold and what your carrier or administrator already handles for you.
If you are close to or over the line, we set up the notices and the administrator so a departing caregiver never becomes a missed deadline. Confirm the details of your situation with your employment counsel.
How we handle it.
Count Carefully
We look at how the headcount is measured, including part-time caregivers, so the agency knows which side of the line it is on.
Assign The Notices
Initial and qualifying-event notices have an owner and a calendar, whether handled in-house or by an administrator.
Plan For Turnover
Agencies with steady turnover see more qualifying events, so the process has to be routine, not heroic.
Questions on this topic.
Short answers for agency owners.
Does COBRA apply to us?
It generally applies once an employer has twenty or more employees, and smaller employers may have state continuation rules. We help you confirm which applies.
Do part-time caregivers count?
Part-time employees are generally counted in a way that reflects their hours, so a part-time heavy workforce can reach the threshold sooner than expected.
Who sends the notices?
Either the agency or an administrator it hires. What matters is that someone owns it and the timing is tracked.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm the rules that apply to your agency with your attorney or tax advisor.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents, two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
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