"cobra is a federal law requiring employers with or more employees to provide the option of continuing the employee's existing health coverage for dependents for up to months following qualifying events."

"COBRA is a federal law requiring employers with __20__ or more employees to provide the option of continuing the employee's existing health coverage for dependents for up to ___36__ months following qualifying events."

Explanation:

COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) is a federal law that requires employers of 20 or more employees who offer health care benefits to offer the option of continuing this coverage to individuals who would otherwise lose their benefits due to termination of employment, reduction in hours or certain other events. Individual states may also have COBRA-like laws that apply.

If you are employer covered by the COBRA laws, you'll need to familiarize yourself with the basics of the law, including which employees are eligible for COBRA and which benefits are covered by COBRA, the events that trigger COBRA coverage, and what your communication duties entail. Administrative duties involving signing up eligible employees may be outsourced.

Depending upon the type of event and who the beneficiary is, coverage could continue for 18 or 36 months after the date of the event or the coverage loss:

in the case of termination of employment or reduction in hours

— 18 months for the employee and any covered dependents

in the case of qualifying events for reasons other than termination of employment or reduction in hours

— 36 months of coverage