COBRA laws in VA?

[bluepie21]

I'm a full-time, salaried employee for a small (22 employees) company. I've been working here for 7 months. I recently decided to reduce the number of hours I work to 20/week. The company agreed to the arrangement and agreed to pay me an hourly wage equal to what I am making now per hour. They told me they wouldn't be able to pay my health insurance anymore. I asked if I could keep my insurance, but pay the premium myself and they told me no. My question is: aren't they required to allow me to keep my insurance, while paying the premium myself, for 18 months under the COBRA law? If so, how can I enforce that law?

[cbg]

Since they have more than 20 employees, Federal law says they must offer COBRA. I don't have time to look for the link for you right now, but if no one else provides it I'll try to get it for you later on.

[bluepie21]

This is what I suspected and I'm glad to hear it. Thanks for the reply. A further question: are all Cobras required to be offered for 18 months? What happens if, during the period of Cobra coverage, the company loses employees and has less than 20? What happens is the company goes out of business? Thanks again!

[cbg]

If the company goes below 20 employees, your COBRA would not be cancelled. But if for any reason the company was no longer offering coverage to their active employees, or if the company went out of business, there would be no plan for you to continue and your COBRA would end at the same time as that of the "active" employees.