The Virginia General Assembly has approved House Bill 554, and the Governor has signed into law legislation that extends the "mini-COBRA" subsidy beyond 9 months in Virginia. 
 
Currently, the federal ARRA law provides for a subsidy to reduce COBRA and state continuation premiums for up to 15 months for individuals who were involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, through February 28, 2010, and who meet other eligibility requirements. Since ARRA only applied to companies subject to COBRA, this law did not apply to employers with fewer than 20 employees.  Hence the reason for the Virginia House Bill.  The Virginia Enhanced Continuation subsidy applies to groups with fewer than 20 employees.  The new law also has language in it that allows any future time limit amendment that ARRA provides to be incorporated into Virginia law automatically.

For groups subject to the new Virginia law, the insurance carrier is responsible for providing the 65% subsidy of the state continuation premium. The member will be responsible for the remaining 35% of the premium. 

For groups subject to the federal ARRA law, they are responsible for submitting the entire premium (35% from the member and the 65% subsidy) to the carrier.  Those groups can then request reimbursement of the COBRA subsidy from the government through a corresponding payroll tax credit 

If you have ANY questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact us here at TPA Benefits.