Cobra's caveats

✍ Scribed by Barbara J. Calderone

• Book ID: 102347567
• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 480 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1074-4797
• DOI: 10.1002/jhrm.5600160103

✦ Synopsis

Zntroduction

When the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) issued regulations on June 22, 1994, implementing the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA), it expanded the rule and eliminated some of its original vagueness; however, ambiguity persists in these regulations, which became effective July 22, 1994. Comments received by HCFA regarding this convoluted law and its regulations have been responded to in the Comment and Response portion of the interim final rule published in the Federal Register (ref 1).

The responses highlight some "traps for the unwary" and disclose the manner in which HCFA, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), and courts have interpreted some grey areas of this law.