Offering a smooth COBRA enrollment season

As open enrollment approaches for many employers and their active population, it’s important to ensure that COBRA participants are also provided with an appropriate enrollment period. COBRA administrators and employers have a valuable opportunity to ensure qualified beneficiaries have the information they need to make informed healthcare coverage decisions. Planning ahead can help reduce confusion, improve participant engagement, and minimize additional questions from past employees.

Here are some tips to help you stay proactive and ensure a smooth enrollment experience for your COBRA population. 

Review plan changes carefully

Open enrollment is an ideal time to highlight any changes that may impact COBRA participants. These may include:

• Medical, dental, and vision renewal summaries 
• Updated premium rates 
• Carrier changes 
• New plan offerings

Know your enrollment process

COBRA beneficiaries often have unique timelines and requirements compared to active employees. Clearly communicating open enrollment deadlines, effective dates, and payment requirements can help avoid coverage disruptions. Some key things to know:

• At Omnify, we start the open enrollment process 60 days prior to the new insurance plan year. An email and survey are sent to your COBRA authorized users. It’s important to review this communication, complete the survey, and provide any updated plan design and rates as soon as possible. 
• Once the plan rates are updated, COBRA authorized users will receive a verification email, requesting that they review and approve the new plan rates. When these rates are approved, open enrollment notices are sent to all COBRA-eligible participants.
• We strongly encourage you to allow a 10-day window between your rate approval and the start of open enrollment to provide adequate mailing time.
• During the elected open enrollment period, eligible COBRA participants can review their options, make benefit elections, and submit payment for the new play year.

Omnify’s COBRA made simple 

Omnify is here to support both our employer partners and their eligible COBRA participants throughout the open enrollment process. A successful COBRA open enrollment season starts with preparation, clear communication, and a dependable process. By providing Omnify with timely plan renewals, benefit changes, carrier updates, and premium rates, employers can rely on us to manage the rest.

Our open enrollment process is designed to deliver a reliable, repeatable, and consistent experience year after year. Omnify automatically generates and distributes open enrollment notifications, communicates plan updates and participant options, and provides clear instructions for making benefit elections. We track communications and enrollment activity throughout the process, helping ensure eligible participants receive the information they need to make informed decisions within the required enrollment time frame.

Be on the lookout!

For those with a January insurance renewal, communication will be sent at the beginning of November.  Investing a small amount of time in proactive preparation today can lead to fewer administrative issues, improved participant satisfaction, and a more successful open enrollment experience for all stakeholders.