Generating COBRA Notification Letters

You can create letters to notify new COBRA participants of their right to extend benefit coverage, or create letters for COBRA participants with late payments.

Cobra Letter Print (BN171) creates initial notification letters for COBRA participants whose Participant Notified field on Participant Dates (BN70.2) is blank. BN171 uses the letter corresponding to each participant's Occurrence type as defined on COBRA Occurrence Types (BN00.3) and updates the field with the date of the letter.

If you run the report to create letters for COBRA participants with late payments, BN171 uses the delinquent premium letter selected in COBRA Parameters (BN00.2). When the report creates delinquent premium letters, the Letter Date field updates to the Delinquent Premium field in Participant Dates (BN70.2).

To generate COBRA notification letters

  1. Access COBRA Letter Print (BN171).
  2. In the Parameters section, use the following guidelines to enter field values:
    Report Selection

    Select the kind of letter you want to print. This is a required field.

    If you select All Notification Letters, BN171 creates notification letters for COBRA participants with occurrences. If you select Specified Letter, BN171 creates the letter you select in the Letter field for COBRA participants who have the occurrence associated with the letter in COBRA Occurrence Types (BN00.3). If you select Delinquent Premium Letters, BN171 creates letters for COBRA participants with delinquent premium letters.

    Report Option

    Select whether you want to print letters, labels, both letters and labels, or labels and a letter form. This is a required field.

    Letter Date

    Type the date of the letter. This is a required field. This date defaults to the Company Notified field in Participant Dates (BN70.2) for initial notification letters. For delinquent premium letters, this date defaults to the Delinquent Premium field in Participant Dates (BN70.2).

    Update

    Select the report you want. This is a required field. It is recommended that you select Report Only to review the letters before selecting Update.

  3. Select the Add form function.
  4. Submit the report.

Options for Creating Letters

The following options are available for generating COBRA notification letters.

To create a free-form or custom letter for a participant, use Free Form Letter (BN85.1). To print a free-form letter, use Standard Letter Print (BN285). Change notification dates manually on Participant Dates (BN70.2) when you use this option.