J&D’s COBRA Services Department acts as COBRA administrator for many of our clients, and has provided comprehensive COBRA services for more than a decade.

COBRA administration can be an overwhelming responsibility for employers of all sizes. Inefficient or improper COBRA administration practices have yielded a growing number of lawsuits for employers in recent years — often resulting from such issues as new hire notices not being sent, missed deadlines for notification in the event of a qualifying event, or other program inconsistencies. All of these oversights lead to a loss of coverage for employees and their spouses and children.

J&D’s role is to make the responsibilities associated with COBRA administration easy and less overwhelming for you. Effective communication is the critical component for effective COBRA processing. J&D’s approach to COBRA administration enables us to:

• ensure strong communication and consistent practices by setting up a working agreement between you and Johnson & Dugan to clearly identify our responsibilities — and yours;
• act as a liaison between you, the COBRA participant and the insurance carriers;
• manage all COBRA documentation — each piece of mail that arrives in our office is time-stamped, and all documentation we receive for each participant is saved and filed, including the envelope it arrived in;
• furnish you with all appropriate information in the event of a Department of Labor (DOL) audit;
• provide you with the ability to review a particular participant’s file and related benefits activity, beginning with the date J&D received the Qualifying Event.