Q&A Employer Compliance Guide: COBRA Extensions, Medicare Coordination, and Coverage Obligations
- December 26, 2025
- Posted by: Gus Altuzarra
- Category: Compliance Q&A
12.4.25 | POLICY FOR SINGLE EMPLOYEE NOW SUBJECT TO COBRA
Q. A California company has Kaiser and UHC policies and subject to COBRA. Separately, they opened a Kaiser Hawaii policy for their sole employee in Hawaii who has since left the company. There are no plans to hire another employee in Hawaii. Is the company required to keep the Hawaii policy active to accommodate the employee who needs to be offered COBRA?
A. The employer is not required to keep the Hawaii Kaiser policy in effect if the employer no longer has any active Hawaii employees. The employee would be entitled to COBRA under the Kaiser CA and UHC policies.
12.11.25 | MEDICARE & GROUP INSURANCE
Q. An employer has 19 full-time employees and 5 part-time employees. If there are 20 or more employees the group plan is primary and Medicare secondary. Is it correct that it does not matter if the employees are full-time or part-time, and is based on the number of employees in the 20 weeks in the prior calendar year?
A. You are correct. For Medicare purposes, you count all employees, regardless of whether they are full time or part time. As long as the employer as 20 or more employees for each working day for 20 calendar weeks in the current or prior calendar year, the employer plan will be primary to Medicare.
12.18.25 | COBRA EXTENSION FOR DEPENDENT OF EMPLOYEE WHO MOVES TO MEDICARE
Q. If an employee’s dependent is on COBRA and the employee moves to Medicare, is the time the dependent can remain on COBRA still set by the original qualifying event, or do they get an extension from the time the primary subscriber moved to Medicare?
A. No, the Medicare extension only applies if the employee enrolls in Medicare before the COBRA qualifying event. Here, the dependent was already on COBRA when the employee enrolls in Medicare, so the original 18 month COBRA period will apply to the dependent and the original qualifying event.
Answers to the Question of the Week are provided by Kutak Rock LLP. Kutak Rock provides general compliance guidance through the UBA Compliance Help Desk, which does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Please consult your legal advisor for specific legal advice.
