Upon or last day of employment, 45 employee at our auto dealership were handed our final checks with a cobra continuation form. We have since learned that because the business closed down, cobra will not be available to us. Most of us elected to go with cobra rather than seek other health plans. This leaves us in an uninsured situation because of the lag time with cobra paperwork, and in some cases, employees are being denied continued treatment because the insurance company is claiming pre-existing conditions are present and will only re-enroll these individuals with steep premiums!

The question is, of course, do we have any legal recourse with our former employer, or are we just out of luck?

You are just out of luck. If the company closes down, the insurance policy is obviously cancelled. If there's no coverage to continue, obviously there can't be COBRA beyond the date of cancellation.

cbg

Thank you for your response. We have since discovered our former employer may be in violation of failing to file a WARN NOTIFICATION, therefore our insurance costs might be reimbursed for 60 days.

thanks again bedisbury