{"id":4351,"date":"2017-11-23T10:26:10","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T18:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/?page_id=4351"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:54:21","slug":"cobra-continue-your-insurance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/insurance\/health\/cobra-continue-your-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"COBRA: Continue your insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #000000;color:#000000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #000000;color:#000000\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/insurance\/health\/cobra-continue-your-insurance\/#Eligibility\" >Eligibility<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/insurance\/health\/cobra-continue-your-insurance\/#Eligibility-for-dependents\" >Eligibility for dependents<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/insurance\/health\/cobra-continue-your-insurance\/#Enroll\" >Enroll<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/insurance\/health\/cobra-continue-your-insurance\/#Cost\" >Cost<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>When your employment ends or you otherwise lose your eligibility for UW benefits, you may be able to continue your health insurance per the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). If eligible for COBRA, you pay the monthly premiums for coverage.<\/p>\n<p>As an alternative to continuation through COBRA, losing your job-based coverage qualifies you for coverage through the state marketplace for health insurance. For details, see the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wahealthplanfinder.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Healthplanfinder<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Eligibility\"><\/span>Eligibility<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You\u2019re eligible to continue your health coverage for up to 18 months if either of these occur:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your employment ends (unless it\u2019s due to gross misconduct)<\/li>\n<li>You lose eligibility for health insurance because your work hours are reduced<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You\u2019re not eligible to continue coverage if you\u2019re already covered by another group health plan. Similarly, you lose your COBRA eligibility once you enroll in another group health plan (unless that plan contains a pre-existing condition exclusion).<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Eligibility-for-dependents\"><\/span>Eligibility for dependents<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Should you die or get divorced while working at the UW, your dependents can continue to receive coverage for up to 36 months.<\/p>\n<p>When your child loses eligibility due to age, they too can continue to receive coverage for up to 36 months.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Enroll\"><\/span>Enroll<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When your employment ends or you otherwise lose your coverage, you have 60 days to enroll in coverage through COBRA.<\/p>\n<p>To pick a plan and continue your health coverage:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Fill out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hca.wa.gov\/assets\/pebb\/50-0136-pebb-continuation-coverage-cobra-election-change-2026.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">COBRA Continuation of Coverage Election<\/a>\u00a0form<\/li>\n<li>Mail the completed form to the Health Care Authority (address listed on the form)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cost\"><\/span>Cost<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you choose to continue coverage through COBRA, you must pay the monthly premiums. You may continue coverage for medical, dental, vision or all three.<\/p>\n<p>Plans are offered by the state Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB), and what you pay depends on whether or not you have Medicare:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hca.wa.gov\/assets\/pebb\/50-0300-pebb-continuation-coverage-monthly-premiums-2026.pdf\">Continuation of Coverage Premiums (2026)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pay to continue your health insurance when your employment ends or you lose benefits eligibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"parent":4364,"menu_order":69,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-4351","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10423,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4351\/revisions\/10423"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hr.uw.edu\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}