COBRA contains provisions giving certain former employees, retirees, spouses and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates. This coverage, however, is only available in specific instances. Group health coverage for COBRA participants is usually more expensive than health coverage for active employees, since usually the employer formerly paid a part of the premium. It is ordinarily less expensive, though, than individual health coverage.

The law generally covers group health plans maintained by employers with 20 or more employees in the prior year. It applies to plans in the private sector and those sponsored by state and local governments.{2} The law does not, however, apply to plans sponsored by the Federal government and certain church- related organizations.

Group health plans sponsored by private sector employers generally are welfare benefit plans governed by ERISA and subject to its requirements for reporting and disclosure, fiduciary standards and enforcement. ERISA neither establishes minimum standards or benefit eligibility for welfare plans nor mandates the type or level of benefits offered to plan participants. It does, though, require that these plans have rules outlining how workers become entitled to benefits.

Under COBRA, a group health plan ordinarily is defined as a plan that provides medical benefits for the employer's own employees and their dependents through insurance or otherwise (such as a trust, health maintenance organization, self-funded pay-as-you-go basis, reimbursement or combination of these). Medical benefits provided under the terms of the plan and available to COBRA beneficiaries may include:

• Inpatient and outpatient hospital care
• Physician care
• Surgery and other major medical benefits
• Prescription drugs
• Any other medical benefits, such as dental and vision care